
Class LBi£!X3__ 

Book L N4- 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



STUDIES IN 

PEDAGOGY 



REVISED AND ENLARGED 



BY 

GEO. W. NEET, 

PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGY IN THE 
VALPARAISO COLLEGE. 



VALPARAISO, INDIANA 

M. E. BOGARTE, PUBLISHER, 

19 3. 






THE LIBRARY OF 1 


CONGRESS, 1 


Two Copies 


Receivefl 


SEP 21 


1903 


Copyright 


Entry 


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/^o3 


cuss &y 


XXc. No 


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COPY 


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COPYRIGHTED 1903 
BY GEO. W. NEET. 



PREFACE. 

It is fully appreciated that there are many books 
written during the present times for which there not 
only is no demand, but for which there is no excuse- 
The present little volume is not born of any desire to 
produce a book on pedagogy better than any yet writ- 
ten. It is, however, prompted by a desire to choose 
from the field of pedagogical science material well 
adapted to a special class of students, with which the 
writer has to deal in his daily teaching. 

The field of pedagogy is so large that material 
must be selected from it for those students who are 
just beginning the study of pedagogy. So it has been 
the aim in this little volume to select from this broad 
field and organize such material as is best adapted to 
students beginning this line of work. At the same 
time material has been selected whose study, it is 
believed, wiU be of substantial worth to teachers in 
giving them an insight into the nature of the teach- 
er's profession as well as knowledge valuable for 
guidance in teaching. While simplicity has been 
aimed at as much as possible, no effort has been 
made to avoid the most fundamental problems of 
pedagogy. 



IV STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

This book is prepared for the special purpose of 
use as a text-book in my own classes. Much which 
is the result of the most recent investigations along 
pedagogical lines is here arranged in a teachable and 
convenient form. Thus the study is brought up to 
date. 

An effort has been made to show where the pres- 
ent studies articulate with psychology, child-study 
and methods. G. W. N. 



CONTENTS. 



lAPTER 


'• 


PAGE. 




Introduction 


9. 


I. 


The School 


- 13. 


II. 


The Purpose of the School 


25. 


III. 


The Physical Nature of the Child 


- 38. 


IV. 


The Mental Nature of the Child 


63. 


V. 


The Mental Nature of the Child 


- 84. 


VI. 


The School Curriculum - 


122. 


VII. 


The Teacher - 


- 148. 


VIII. 


The Management of the School - 


176 



IX. The Process in the Teaching Act, — 

Method 208. 

X. The Recitation - - - - 231. 
Index - - . . - 245. 



INTROD UCTION. 

Pedagogy/. — This term is sometimes thought to^ 
name some particular school subject, the study of 
which will enable those who wish to teach school to 
do their work better than they could do it without 
such study. It is thought by some who have not 
been special students of it to name a subject as 
definite, with regard to the truth it teaches, as 
grammar, geometry, or physiology. Such, however, 
is a wrong notion of the meaning of the term, peda- 
gogy, as well as a wrong idea of the nature of the 
subject, pedagogy. Pedagogy is a term which names 
a group of subjects that have to do with both the 
science and art of education, and is not correctly to 
be thought as naming any one particular subject. 

The term, pedagogy, is from the Latin term, pced- 
agogus, which means a boy-leader or a child-leader. 
Thus from its literal meaning pedagogy should be 
something which has to do with leading children from 
a condition in which their unpreparedness for living 
is the greatest to one in which they live intensive and 
fruitful lives. And this is the correct use of the term, 
for it indicates the nature of the subject. Used in 
this sense pedagogy names a group of subjects which 
are called professional subjects. That is to say, they 



:X INTRODUCTION. 

tire subjects which the teacher should study with the 
special view of becoming more skillful in the art of 
teaching. Pedagogy thus embraces the group of 
professional subjects, psychology^ child-study, or paid- 
ology, methods, history of education, and philosophy of 
education. 

Guyau, a French educational writer of note de- 
:fines pedagogy as follows: "Pedagogy might be 
defined as the art of adapting new generations to 
those conditions of life which are the most intensive 
and fruitful for the Individual and the species." 
This definition emphasizes the art side of pedagogy, 
but it also has an important science aspect. 

It thus appears that two views of pedagogy may 
be found in the minds of teachers, as follows: 

1. The view that pedagogy is a definite subject, 
such as history, etc. This view is not the correct 
one. 

2. The view that pedagogy is a group of sub- 
jects — the professional subjects for the teacher. 

Paraphrasing Guyau 's definition and adding a 
little to it, we have the following definition for peda- 
gogy: Pedagogy is the science and the art of adapting 
new generations to those conditions of life most intensive 
and fruitful to the individual and the race. 

It will thus appear that the field of study in 
pedagogy which offers itself to teachers is a broad 
one, and one from which material especially suited 
must be chosen. It further appears that to become 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

to any great extent proficient in the pursuit of peda- 
gogy will require considerable time. Educational 
ideas have grown till it is no longer believed that one 
can become proficient in pedagogy by studying it for 
one or two school terms. This becomes evident 
when one thinks that to know pedagogy to any great 
extent is to know psychology, child-study, methodol- 
ogy, history of education, and philosophy of educa- 
tion. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SCHOOL. 

The Beginning Point. — Prom the teacher's point 
of view all study of pedagogy centers around and is 
connected with the school. The term, -pedagogy^ is 
so closely connected with the school, and they have 
been associated together to such an extent that this 
term always suggests the school in some of its 
various aspects. For this reason pedagogy has 
come to be regarded a strictly professional line of 
work, and a more or less extended study of it is the 
teacher's distinctly prof essional preparation. So, as 
a starting place in the study of pedagogy, it seems 
eminently fitting to begin with the study of the 
school as a ivhole, since it is the institution in which 
the learner and the teacher meet in the educating 
process. 

The Nature of the School. — Among the ancients 
the school was a place of leisure, but it can scarcely 
be called such now. In its development it has be- 
come one of the fundamental organizations of society. 
The school is thus an organization, but it gives little 
or no help to know this unless the idea of an organi- 
zation is well understood. 



14 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The study of the human body as a type of an 
organization will reveal pretty well the thought 
sought for here. A somewhat careful study will 
show that the following points are to be found in the 
human body as an example of an organization: 

1. A complex whole. 

2. Individual parts. 

3. The harmonious working relation of the 
parts. 

4. A common purpose for which all the parts 
work. 

5. Self -activity and self -adjustment of the 
whole and the parts. 

The body as one thing is a complex whole, since 
it may be analyzed into parts some of which are of 
more importance than others. The individual parts 
in this case are the organs of the body — the hands, 
the feet, the skin, the heart, the stomach, etc. They 
are individual parts because each one has some 
marks about it which distinguish it from everything 
else. All these organs work so as to help onean- 
other. Thus the hands help to care for the feet; the 
feet help to carry the hands from place to place; 
the feet and hands help to secure food to nourish the 
skin, heart, and stomach as well as themselves; the 
stomach helps to digest the food, and the heart pumps 
the blood enriched by the digested food to all parts of 
the body. All these parts do their work in such a 
way that, while each one does its own particular 



THE SCHOOL. 15^ 

work well, it in no way hinders any other part but 
also facilitates its work. If any part should work 
against another for a time, the organization would be- 
come impaired; if continued, the organization would 
be destroyed by breaking down the unity of its parts. 
The common end for which all the parts here work ia 
the maintenance of the body as a whole, which is also- 
the maintenance of the life of each part. The human 
body is self-adjusting in that, when out of order, it 
tends to adjust itself, and in most cases actually does 
so. It is self-active in that it has the power of 
originating its own activities — of causing itself to 
act. The analysis of the human body as an example 
of an organization reveals the essential ideas of any 
organization as we wish in our work to think it. 

Then, when we say the school is an organization,. 
we say it is a collection of individual parts, self-ad- 
justing and self-acting, working harmoniously to- 
gether for one common purpose. Thus the pupils, 
the teacher, the school curriculum, the school 
officers, the patrons, etc., are the individual parts; and 
the common purpose toward which they are harmo- 
niously working is the education of the learner 
physically, intellectually, cesthetically, socially, morally^ 
and religiously. 

The school, the church, the family, the state, and 
business society are organizations which are called the 
institutions of civilized life. These five institutions^ 
are the lines along which civilization has grown. 



16 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

A further study of the institution, the school, 
leads into a discussion of the origin of the institu- 
tions, and particularly the origin of the school. 

Origin of the School. — The school had its origin in 
the differentiation of institutions. But this statement 
gives no help unless the meaning of differentiation is 
well understood. Differentiation has been called the 
law of all progress. That is to say, progress con- 
sists in the division of structure or of labor or of 
both, and when there is no differentiation of these 
there is no progress. 

Differentiation may be defined as a differencing, 
or division, of structure or labor to the end of more 
efficient work. 

Illustration. — The lowest forms of life are small 
animals and plants each consisting of but one small 
cell of protoplasm which does in a way the work that 
all the organs of higher living forms do for them. 
Thus this one cell performs all the functions of di- 
gestion, circulation, assimilation, muscular action, 
-etc., that are performed by the organs of higher 
forms of life. In these little living beings there is 
almost no differentiation of structure or function. 
But a little higher form of plant or animal life has 
many cells, some rudimentary digestive organs, 
and circulatory organs; and also rudimentary 
nervous, muscular, and supporting systems. The 
higher up in the scale of plant or animal life the 
being is, the more definite are the separate organs, 



THE SCHOOL. 17 

and the more is their labor divided. For instance 
the robin or the geranium each has a definite set of 
organs for the performance of a definite set of 
functions. That is to say, they have a high degree 
of differentiation, while the one celled forms have 
none or nearly none. This means progress; for when 
an organ has but one kind of work to do, it can do 
that better than it can do many kinds of work. This 
is true because there is more time and energy to be 
spent upon this particular work. 

Differentiation of Institutions. — There was a time 
in primitive society during the childhood of the race 
when only one of these fundamental institutions of 
civilization was in existence. This institution was 
the family. It then had much work to do. It had to 
protect the children from enemies, both wild beasts 
and men, to furnish food, clothing and shelter. It 
had to educate the children in so far as they were 
educated; to furnish religious services, and provide 
means of enjoyment for leisure hours. With these 
manifold duties to perform the family could not be 
expected to do any of them very well, and we know 
that they were not well done. The protection fur- 
nished was poor; the food, clothing, and shelter were 
poor; the religion was crude and frequently degrad- 
ing; the right education of the children could not be 
given, and the pleasures were gross and debasing. 
It could be no other way under such conditions. 

That there was first a felt -need for the organl- 



18 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

zation, the churchy after the family may seem strange, 
but history shows it is the truth. And when there is 
a strong felt-need for any thing, the thing is thus 
produced which will satisfy the need. Thus the 
second institution of society which came into exist- 
ence was the church as a product differentiated from 
the family. To say that the church had its origin in 
the thought that it as an institution could furnish 
gratification for man's religious impulses better than, 
the family could is a true statement. If such had 
not been the case, the church would have had no 
reason for coming into existence. 

The next institution to differentiate was doubt- 
less the school. It grew out of the thought that it as 
an institution could educate the children better than 
could be done by the family or the church, or by 
both. So the school had its origin in the thought that 
it as an institution could do the work of educating the 
children better than any other institution in existence. 

This is the thought that created it, and it is the 
sole purpose of the school to realize this thought; for 
it is the function of everything to realize the idea that 
created it, and the school accords to this law. 

Illustration. — It may be truly said that the idea 
which created the cotton-gin was the idea of some 
machine to separate the fiber of the cotton from the 
seed. And it is the purpose, or function, of the cot- 
ton-gin to realize this idea; that is, to do the work of 
separating the fiber of the cotton from the seed. 



THE SCHOOL. 19 

This we know it does well, and its doing this well is 
what has kept the cotton-gin in existence. 

The origin of the state, and business life may be 
accounted for in the same way as the origin of the 
school; that is, they arose in the process of differ- 
entiation of the institutions. It is, however, our 
purpose here to study the origin of the school only. 

Differentiation in the School. — The first school was, 
doubtless, a very simple and primitive affair. It 
probably consisted of a few students congregated 
under the shade of some friendly tree to receive in- 
struction from one who occupied the place of 
teacher. Within the memory of men now living the 
school was very simple. The house was a log cabin 
containing almost no furniture; the curriculum was 
reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic. The 
country school was Primary school, High school, 
Academy, Normal school. Technical school. College,, 
and University. But from this simple beginning by 
differentiation our schools have become quite complex 
and elaborate. There has been differentiation at any 
rate along four lines as follows: 

1. In the school as a whole. 

2. In the work of the teacher. 

3. In the curriculum. 

4. In the grading. 

Once there was nothing but the primary schools, 
but now there are Primary schools. High schools, 
Technical schools, Colleges, and Universities, each 



f20 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

with its own special work to do. Once a teacher 
? taught everything in the school course, but now in 
; many places there is a special teacher for each sub- 
. ject. The curriculum once consisting of only reading, 
writing, spelling, and arithmetic is now changed by 
'-differentiation to one consisting of the following 
.groups: 1. The language group. 2. The science 
group. 3. The history group. 4. The mathe- 
matical group. 5. The art group. Now the curriculum 
is quite complex and extensive. And lastly differen- 
tiation has brought about grading in our schools. 
The teacher in the first schools taught all grades, 
.while the tendency is now towards but one or two 
I grades for a teacher. 

This differentiation in all lines of school work 

: means progress. It means a saving of time and 

< energy. Division of labor, or differentiation, in the 

; school means progress just as truly as it means 

progress in any kind of life. 

. Illustration. — Suppose the farmer, in addition to 
; producing products of the farm, had to make his own 
machinery, grind his wheat and corn for flour and 
meal, tan the skins and make his boots and shoes, 
do his own carpenter work, saw his lumber, produce 
• <5otton, wool, and flax, weave them into cloth for cloth- 
ing, be his own doctor, dentist, lawyer, teacher, and 
preacher, none of these lines of work could be so well 
done as they now are when this labor is divided 
Tup among many persons. Time and energy would 



THE SCHOOL. 21 

be lacking the farmer to do so many kinds of work 
well. Also, there is not only more energy to put on 
any one kind of work when labor is differentiated, 
but any one doing just one or two lines of work be- 
comes more skillful than he could become when doing 
many lines of work, and, thus, will do his work much 
better. 

The origin of the school thus being seen in the 
study of the differentiation of institutions, the next 
topic to invite study is the elements of the school. 

The Elements of the School. — It has been seen that 
the school is a complex whole; that is a whole made 
up of many parts, or elements, some of which are of 
less importance than others. These elements may 
be divided into two classes, and these classes may 
appropriately be called: 

1. The necessary elements. 

2. The supplementary elements. 

The necessary elements are those without which 
the school can not exist. The school is wholly for the 
learner, and without the learner there can be no school. 
So the learner is the first and most important of the 
necessary element^^ of the school. The learner 
makes necessary a teacher. While a school can not 
exist without the learner, no more can it exist with- 
out the teacher. The school finds the thought that 
created it in the process of fulfillment in the teaching 
act, but to have the teaching act requires a teacher. 
So the teacher is the second one of the necessary 



^2 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

elements of the school. While the life of the learner 
is the thing to be developed always in teaching, it 
can not be developed without some subject or sub- 
jects for it to exercise upon. So a third element, the 
subjects of the school course, is also an absolute 
necessity. The term used to designate the school 
subjects,~reading, writing, spelling, geography, 
history, etc., — taken as a whole, is the school curricu- 
lum. With these three elements, the learner^ the 
teacher^ and the curriculum^ a school may exist, but 
take away any one or more of them and the school can 
not exist. 

Every school possesses other elements, which con- 
tribute to the efficiency of the work the school has to 
do, but which are not absolutely necessary to the 
existence of the school. These are the elements 
which have been called the supplementary elements of 
the school. They are the school officials^ the parents^ 
and the material equipments. The school officers are 
the directors, trustees, members of the school 
boards, superintendents of county, city, and state, 
the commissioner of education, and, in a sense, the 
legislators, governors, and the president of the 
country. The material equipments are school houses, 
school furniture, laboratories, library, apparatus, and 
school premises. 

Both of these classes of elements may exist, how- 
ever, and there still be no school. In order that 
there may be a school these elements, whether 



THE SCHOOL. 23 

necessary or supplementary, few or many, must be 
organized, that is they must work in harmony with the 
law of the organization. This law is the law of unity. 
In order to understand this truth well, two words, 
law and unity , need special study. 

Laiu. — A law is a truth which is true of a large 
number of particular cases. Thus it is a law that 
plants require sunshine, moisture, and air for their 
growth. This is a truth which is true of a large 
number of particular plants, and these plants are the 
particular cases. Again it is a law that all material 
objects are drawn toward the center of 'the earth. 
This is a truth which is true of all material objects, 
and these objects are the particular cases. 

Urdty. — Unity as used here means oneness in 
thought, purpose, and effort. It means harmony in 
work and means. It is the harmonious working rela- 
tion in the organization. Thus there is unity between 
the student and the teacher when they are both 
working with the same thought in mind to accomplish 
the same end by the use of harmonious means. 
There is unity between parent and teacher when they 
are agreed as to the end to be attained in school work, 
and are also agreed on the means and are working to 
reach the desired end. 

The law of unity is the fundamental law of the 
school. This appears from the fact that when all 
the elements of the school are examined at the time 
at which the school is doing its best work, it is found 



24 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

that it is when there is most unity; also, it is found 
that when the school is doing its poorest work, is 
when there is least unity. With the law of unity 
intact the school moves forward without a jar toward 
the accomplishment of its work — the education of the 
pupil. When the law is broken there always results 
discord and friction. Any one connected with the 
school, the teacher, the parent, the school officers, or 
the student may break the law of the school — the law 
of unity. When any one does so, he breaks a rule 
of the school, since the rules of the school are but 
different aspects of the law of unity. And he who 
breaks the law of unity in the school either intention- 
ally or unintentionally has committed an educational 
sin. 

Further Material for Study. — After studying the 
school as an institution of civilization, there remain 
to be studied the purpose, or aim, of the school; the 
necessary elements of the school; school management, 
the recitation^ etc. These will be studied in succeed- 
ing chapters. 

The purpose of the school is one with the end, or 
aim, of education; so a study of this leads to a study 
of the nature and purpose of education. 

The nature and purpose of education will constitute 
the subject-matter of study in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 

The Problem. — The purpose of the school is to^ 
educate the pupil. But what does it mean to educate 
the pupil? What sort of condition is the pupil to be 
in when he is educated? What is the meaning of 
what is called an education? These are some of the 
questions which suggest themselves at the outset of 
the study. The real problem is, What is the purpose 
of the school? and, since the purpose of the school is 
the same as the purpose of education, the problem 
is, What is the end to be reached in the educating 
process? That is to say, the question to be answered 
is, What is the aim, or purpose, of education? 

The Problem Ansioered. — There is scarcely an 
educational writer of note to be found who has not- 
dealt with this problem and who has not answered 
it in some way. This fact, that educators every- 
where have been thinking and writing upon this 
question, is evidence of the importance which school 
men think it to possess. 

It will prove helpful to study some of the 
answers to this very important question. 

Complete Living. — Mr. Herbert Spencer, doubt- 
less the greatest living thinker, says the purpose of 



'26 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

^education is complete living. This when analyzed 
means: 

1. Treating the body right. 

2. Treating the mind right. 

3. Managing one's affairs right. 

4. Rearing a family right. 

8. Behaving right as a citizen. 

6. Spending one's leisure time right. 

This seems a broad and comprehensive view of 
the purpose of education. There is no kind of hu- 
man activity that this view of the aim of education 
does not touch. Granting that this is the true aim 
of education, then instruction in our schools, if in 
harmony with this aim, must give the pupil knowl- 
edge which will furnish guidance in these six kinds 
of activities. There must be knowledge gained 
which will furnish guidance in treating the body right; 
in treating the mind right; in managing one^s affairs 
right; in rearing a family right; in behaving right as a 
<iitizen; in spending one^s leisure time right. 

The schools in their present condition fall far 
short of realizing this comprehensive aim. There is 
scarcely anything in many of our school courses that 
lias as its specific aim to furnish knowledge which 
gives guidance in treating the mind right. The 
school curriculum is also almost entirely devoid of 
work which gives knowledge to furnish guidance in 
rearing a family. Doubtless much in the average 
.school course has such a remote connection with 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 27 

knowledge that gives guidance in any of these six lines 
of human activities indicated, that the time spent upon 
it could be spent much more profitably some other 
way. That is to say, in the light of the above indi- 
cated purpose, the school curriculum is inadequate to 
a high degree. This point will be studied at length, 
however, in Chapter VI. under the head of The 
School Curriculum. 

Rational Freedom. — Dr. Arnold Tompkins says 
that the aim of education is rational freedom. And 
by rational freedom is meant the power to choose and 
live in the highest good. This means the power to 
choose and do that which will in every instance lift 
one to a higher plane of life as opposed to doing as 
one pleases regardless of the effect it has upon his 
own life and the lives of his f ellowmen. Some fancy 
their freedom taken away from them when they are 
prohibited from doing those things which by degrees 
bring upon them habits constantly degrading to 
their lives. In such cases it is not rational freedom 
that is taken away; in fact, it is not freedom at all, 
but the opportunity of placing themselves in bondage 
which is restricted. 

Illustration. — A man claims freedom gives him 
the right to partake of intoxicants to the extent that 
lie becomes drunken. He objects, if one says the 
law against drunkenness should be enforced, and 
says his freedom is restricted. It seems evident 
iihat the restriction is not upon his freedom, but that 



28 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

the license to make a slave of himself is the thing- 
upon which the restriction falls. If he were free, he 
would know the evil of intemperance, he would choose 
to be temperate, and would have the force of character 
to realize his choice. 

Thus, since rational freedom means the power to 
choose and live in the highest good, it means the 
same thing as complete living. 

Strong Moral Character. — Dr. Charles A. McMurry 
discusses the question. What is the main aim of 
education? in his work on "General Method," and 
comes to the conclusion that it is strong moral char- 
acter. Some have objected to strong moral character 
as the main aim of education on the ground that it 
slights the value of knowledge in education. The ob- 
jection, however, does not seem to be a good one. In 
order to have strong moral character one must have 
knowledge sufficient to enable him to know to a high 
degree the right and wrong in human activity. One 
is not likely as a rule to do better than he knows. He 
may do so, however, by accident, but to be able to act 
right, presupposes the development of the thinking 
and knowing powers to the extent that judgments of 
right and wrong may be formed. So to say that 
strong moral character is the main aim of education 
does not mean that knowledge getting and the ability 
to think are to be slighted at all. On the other hand, 
it does mean that one must possess a store of useful 
knowledge and the power of ready, accurate thought, 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 29 

but it further means that this power must be regu- 
lated and directed to righteous ends. 

To say that a man always has good motives is not 
equivalent to saying that a man has a strong moral 
character. The Fijian considers murder an action of 
the highest honor, and feels that his life has been 
more or less a failure till he has killed some one. 
Although some would say the act of killing on 
the part of the Fijian is a moral act because the motive 
is good to the Fijian, none probably, would say the 
act is the result of strong moral character. Similarly, 
the Turcoman regards theft as meritorious, as shown 
by the fact that he makes pilgrimages to the tombs 
of noted robbers to make offerings to their departed 
spirits. In the same manner the Egyptian thinks it 
praiseworthy to lie without any further object than 
that he may become skillful in the art of lying. Ac- 
cording to a class of thinkers on moral questions these 
acts, murder, theft, and lying, are moral acts since the 
agent performs them with what he considers a good 
motive. However, the common sense of any school 
boy tells him that these acts do not grow out of strong 
moral character. 

A person to have strong moral character must 
be a good thinker] a lover of truth, beauty, and goodness-, 
and must have well formed habits to the end of acting 
truthfully, beautifully, and righteously. 

Wise and Virtuous Men and Women. — Another way 
of stating the purpose of education which means 



30 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

substantially the same as the purpose stated 
above is to say the purpose of education is to make 
wise and virtuous men and ivomen. Wisdom consists 
in knowing what is the best thing to be done next 
under any set of circumstances, and virtue consists in 
doing it. Thus a man or woman is wise just to the 
degree that he or she knows what is best to do next, 
and virtuous just to the degree that he or she does it. 

Harmony of the Four Vieius. — Complete living, 
rational freedom,, strong moral character, and tuisdom 
and virtue as the purpose of education all mean in 
substance the same thing. Each one emphasizes 
the truth that it is the function of education to 
make worthy, honorable men and women of unsullied 
integrity and virtue. 

Importance of the Bight View. — Purpose is begin- 
ning and end in every kind of process. Purpose as 
mere idea is the beginning, and it moves forward 
guiding the process to its realization, the end. Thus 
it determines the end .reached and the character of 
the process in reaching the end. It also determines 
the means used in carrying on the process. 

Illustration. — A man wishes to beautify his 
lawn, the purpose, which exists only as an idea. But 
it is the beginning of the process of making the 
lawn beautiful. He sets out shrubbery, makes flower 
beds and plants flowers, plans walks orderly ar- 
ranged, and constructs a fountain in some suitable 
place. All this constitutes the process, which the 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 31. 

purpose guides. In the light of the purpose 
the work must be neatly, orderly, and artistically'- 
done, or the beauty will be marred. The purpose^ 
also determines the kind of shrubbery, flowers, 
walks, and fountain selected; that is, the means. Ail 
this work well done, the lawn is beautiful, which is:. 
the realization of the purpose. Thus the purpose- 
was beginning as idea, and end as its realization. 

From the foregoing the importance of having the 
right purpose of education fixed in the mind of each 
student and teacher may be seen. It will determine:. 

1. The chararacter of the educational process^ 

2. The means used in the educational process.. 

3. The end reached by the educational process. 
Of all the educational questions which enlist the 

intellect and appeal to the interests of the people, no- 
other is more important than this; no other is more 
vital and determining in its effects; no other is more 
far-reaching in its influence. Upon the appreciation, 
of its importance, its correct solution, the faith in it, 
and the force of it in the form of living- 
principles in the lives of students and teachers de- 
pend not only the success and happiness of individ- 
uals, but even the perpetuity of national life. 

Man\s Aim in Life. — In general it may be said, 
that man aims at two things in life: 

1. "Animal happiness. " 

2. "Spiritual worthiness." 

Animal happiness means a condition in life 



32 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Tesulting from the satisfying of one's physical needs. 
It means the possession of the material things of life 
to the extent that one may have an adequate supply 
of food, clothing, and shelter for himself and family. 
It is somewhat relative, meaning different things to 
different people, but in all cases it refers to the 
possession of money, property, etc., to the end of 
bodily comfort. It is the practical set over against 
culture; the physical set over against the spiritual. 

Spiritual worthiness means all that has been 
discussed under moral character, rational freedom, 
wisdom and virtue, and complete living from the 
spiritual side. 

Relation of These Aims. — These aims are both 
worthy ones, but which one holds the dominant place 
in the consciousness and affections of an individual 
makes a mighty difference in his life. It will change 
the whole current of his character and actions. If 
one subordinates spiritual worthiness to animal 
happiness, he subordinates the higher to the lower, 
the animal-like to the human-like, and will be 
governed more in his actions by the animal-like than 
by the human-like. Thus the proper relation of 
these aims is that spiritual worthiness must always 
occupy the leading place in consciousness and affec- 
tions, and if there ever be conflict between them, an- 
imal happiness must be subordinated to spiritual 
worthiness. One may attain to both by aiming at 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 33 

the higher, but he is not hkely to attain to both, if he 
allows his life to be dominated by the lower. 

What the 3Iain Aim of Education Is Not. — The 
predominant aim of education then is not animal 
happiness, if it were man would be no better than 
the lower animals in so far as his aim in life is 
concerned. There is, nevertheless a strong and 
wide-spread belief that the purpose of education is 
primarily to furnish a means for obtaining a liveli- 
hood. Evidence of this is found in the ideas of a 
majority of the students who first enter the work in 
our universities, normal schools, and colleges. It is 
probably not an exaggeration to say that nine- tenths 
of the students entering these schools hold in mind 
as their predominant aim the money-making purpose. 
Further evidence of this is found in the ideas that 
parents generally have in sending their children to 
school. It is common for parents to say, in reply to 
the question, Why are you sending your children 
to school? something like the following: ''I want my 
child to be educated that he may not have so hard a 
time in life as I have had. " 

What the Primary Aim of Education Is. — The 
primary aim of education is strong moral character. 
In our civilization there is a need for strong moral 
character above all other things. There can be no 
doubt of a need for a better manhood and woman- 
hood among the masses of our people, when the 
following sad truths are so evident: 



34 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

1. Ignorance, vice, and poverty go hand in hand 
with human misery. 

2. There is scarcely a court in the land in which 
one can feel absolutely sure of justice. 

3. No attempt is made to conceal the fact that 
to corrupt the right of suffi'age is regarded as fair 
play. 

4. So many men in the common affairs of life 
will not deal honestly with one another. 

5. Legislators are susceptible to the influence 
of lobbyists and bribery. 

6. Men have not the moral courage to crush 
out of existence the curse of intemperance, which fills 
the jails, penitentiaries, and alms houses, and causes 
the premature death of eighty thousand citizens 
3^early in our country, which causes the loss of 
fortunes, and makes homes desolate. 

One can assert without fear of exaggeration that 
the most pressing need of the nation, and humanity 
is a better type of moral manhood and woman- 
hood. John G. Holland's "Prayer of the Nation" is 
as true now as it ever was. He says: 

"God give us men! A time like this demands 
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands, 
Men whom the lust of office does not kill; 
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy. 
Men who possess opinions and a will; 
Men who have honor and will not lie; 
Men who can stand before a demagogue 
And scorn his treacherous flattery without winking, 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 35 

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog- 
In public duty and private thinking." 

Hints from Nature. — Education as a process is 
living rather than mere preparation for living, and 
human life will of necessity in the process of educa- 
tion conform with the unfolding of life wherever 
found. Then when the universal laiv of the unfolding 
life process has been found out, the real purpose of 
education has been discovered. This is always an 
upward striving to accomplish the end prompted by 
inherent self -urgency. Thus the acorn develops into 
the very best oak tree possible under the circum- 
stances, true to the self-urgency inherently in it. 
The grain of corn grows into the mature stalk and 
ear, also true to the self-urgency in it. Everything 
in nature has an upward tendency because of the 
self- urgency in it. 

The poet idealizes it thus: 

"Every clod feels a stir of might, 
An instinct within it that reaches and towers. 
And groping blindly above it for light. 
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers." 

The animal world feels this self-urgency, content 
to accomplish the work nature has given it to do. 
The larva develops into the beautiful butterfly, true to 
this principle. Within the egg is potentially the 
songster of woodland and field, and its life consists 
in making the potential that to which its self -urgency 
points. 



36 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Tennyson idealizes it thus : 

**To-day I saw a dragon-fly 
Come from the wells v/here he did lie. 
An inner impulse rent the veil 
Of his old husk: from head to tail 
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail. 
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew: 
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew 
A living flash of light he flew. " 

The human being comes into the world the most 
in bondage to his limitations of all animals. His 
most evident characteristic is his unpreparedness for 
life, his inability to take care of himself. But no one 
can tell what he will become; that is, his potential 
freedom is greater than any one knows. It is confi- 
dently believed that, while he is actually in bondage 
in almost every way, he is potentially absolutely free. 

Education as a process is the growth from what the 
individual is to lohat freedom is in him potentially^ and 
to which his self-urgency points him. And the purpose 
of education from the hint given by nature is to make 
of each individual the best man or woman he is 
capable of becoming; that is, one who has the physic- 
al, intellectual, aesthetic, social, moral, and religious 
aspects of his life harmoniously developed to the 
end of scrupulous honesty and integrity, strong 
moral character, and whatever else makes the even 
current of life run full and strong. 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 37 

The poet Holmes puts the ideaUzed purpose of 
education thus: 

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll! 

Leave thy low-vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length art free. 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea." 

By way of emphasis it may be said that, if a man 
is dishonest, untruthful, or immoral in any way, he 
is not educated, though he be a Spencer in thinking 
ability, and possesses a profound knowledge of all 
the arts and sciences known to man. 

It has been seen that the necessary elements of 
the school are the learner, the teacher, and the school 
curriculum. 

The learner presents himself to us for study as; 
to (1) his physical nature, and (2) his spiritual nature. 

Our study in the next chapter will deal with the 
physical nature of the learner. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PHYSICAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 

Importance of Its Study. — Few people are to be 
found who have reached middle or later life and who 
are not afflicted with some sort of disease which 
more or less all the time is a handicap to them in 
their pursuit of success and happiness. Together 
with catarrh, rheumatism, etc., more than ninety- 
men and women in a hundred are thus afflicted. In 
fact, it is extremely difficult to find a person who is 
habitually perfectly well. This fact, that so few men 
and women are to be found who in middle or later 
life are thoroughly well is evidence of the need of a 
better understanding of the laws of life by parents, 
teachers, and all other persons. This knowledge is 
needed by each one that he may guard his own health 
and the health of those intrusted to his care. 

The Misfortune of Bad Health. — No greater mis- 
fortune can come to one than to be afflicted with bad 
health. This truth is evident from the following 
facts: 

1. Bad health causes natural pain, weariness, 
gloom, and the loss of time, and money. 

2. It hinders the performance of all duties. 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 39 

often makes business impossible, and always makes 
it much more difficult. 

3. It produces an irritability fatal to the right 
management of children, makes one's duties in the 
social institutions impossible, and the spending of 
one's leisure time a misery. 

"To all of which add the fact, that life, besides 
being thus immensely deteriorated, is also cut short. 
It is not true, as we commonly suppose, that a dis- 
order or a disease from which we have recovered 
leaves us as before. No disturbance of the normal 
course of the functions can pass away and leave 
things exactly as they were. In all cases a per- 
manent damage is done, not immediately appre- 
ciable, it may be, but still there; and along with other 
such items which Nature in her strict account keep- 
ing never drops; will tell against us to the inevitable 
shortening of our days. Through the accumulation 
of small injuries it is that constitutions are commonly 
undermined, and break down long before their time. 
And if we call to mind how far the average duration 
of life falls below the possible duration, we see how 
immense is the loss. When to the numerous partial 
deductions which bad health entails, we add this 
great final deduction, it results that ordinarily more 
than one-half of life is thrown away. ' ' 

Three potent factors which have to do with the 
health of all persons and with the health of children 
in particular are food^ clothing^ and shelter. 



40 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Food. — It is well known that there is a thought 
current in the minds of some people to the effect that 
the child should not be allowed to eat animal food. 
It is thought by many people that a strictly vegetable 
diet is the one most suitable for children; they have 
joined in with this belief without thinking very much 
whether it is true or not, or if true, why it is true. 
Some believe this so strongly that they will permit 
their children to have little or no meat to eat, while 
many who eat meat themselves and permit their 
children to do so still believe it would be better for 
all parties concerned, if they would not eat it. 

When such questions as this come up to be 
solved, the solution can be found by applying the 
truths of modern science to it, in so far as it can be 
solved at all. Accordingly the thing for the parent 
and teacher to find out is what the truths of modern 
science show when applied to this question. Then, 
let us study this question in the light of the truths 
of modern science. 

Three reasons are given in support of the theory 
that children should live on an exclusively vegetable 
diet: 

1. It is claimed that the health of the child is 
better promoted by a vegetable dietary. 

2. It is claimed that the child whose dietary is 
vegetable has a better disposition than the one whose 
food is mixed. 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 41 

3. And lastly it is claimed that it is wrong to 
kill animals for food. 

Let us study each of these points. The main- 
tenance of the health of the child demands food for 
three things: 1. To make up for the waste of the 
body. 2. To supply fuel to keep up the temperature 
of the body. 3. To furnish material for building up 
new tissue — for growth. These three demands may 
be met in three ways: 1. By small quantities of 
concentrated food. 2. By moderate quantities 
of moderately rich food. 3. By large quantities of 
dilute food. Small quantities of concentrated food 
are not desirable, because it is a well known fact that 
an effort to supply the needs of the body by too con- 
centrated food leads to disease of the digestive 
organs. 

Large quantities of dilute food are undesirable, 
because too great a task is imposed upon the digestive 
organs to promote their health, and the system re- 
quires an economy of digestion that energy may not 
be drawn away from other work of the body to the 
work of digestion unduly. 

As a rule vegetable food is too dilute to supply 
the needs of the body unless it is taken in too large 
quantities for the best results to the digestive organs. 
One of two things is likely to result: 1. There may 
be an abnormal development in size of the digestive 
organs. 2. Or there may result disease of the di- 
gestive organs by overwork. 



42 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Thus for the purpose of keeping the digestive 
organs healthy by giving them enough work to do 
and yet not overworking them a diet of mixed veg- 
etable and animal food seems the best. 

The body demands three kinds of organic foods: 
proteids, sugar s^ and/ais. The proteids are muscular 
tissue builders and must be supplied the body to 
enable it to maintain its strength. Meats and milk 
are rich in proteids, but vegetables are not rich in 
these. On the other hand few of them contain any 
considerable quantities of proteids. Thus since the 
body must have proteids, it seems the most natural 
way to supply them with animal food. 

Our teeth indicate that the natural food of the 
human race is one mixed of vegetables and meats. 

And lastly our first food is animal food. 

From the above it is seen that the verdict of 
science is that under natural conditions a dietary 
mixed of vegetable food and animal food is the natural 
one and the best one for children in order to promote 
health. 

In regard to the assertion that animal food gives 
children bad dispositions, it is perfectly true to say 
that this assertion has never been proven. It is a 
mere assertion without proof. On the other hand 
good feeding and good dispositions go together 
throughout the whole animal world. The Esquimau 
and the Laplander are not distinguished for their bad 
dispositions, but for just the opposite characteristics. 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 43 

They are both easy-going sort of fellows that can not 
easily be provoked into a fight, yet they and their 
ancestors for ages have lived almost wholly on meat. 

With respect to the third reason urged, it may 
be truly said that it is difficult to see why it is wrong 
to kill animals for food any more than it is to kill 
plants, or any more than it is to kill them when they 
become pests. 

The mass of scientific evidence seems to be 
entirely against a strictly vegetable diet for children 
and in favor of a mixed one. 

Clothing. — There are some ideas in regard to 
clothing more or less generally held which are the 
source of evil and human misery. These ideas are 
the following: 

1. It is held that children's health may be better 
preserved by dressing them in clothing insufficient 
in quantity and quality and thus hardening them. 

2. Fashion is given the precedence of comfort 
in children's clothing. 

The child needs clothing for three things: 1. To 
protect him from cold. 2. To protect him from 
heat. 3. To protect him from substances which 
might otherwise injure him. 

In the process of hardening children the first 
purpose of clothing is violated in that the child is not 
protected from cold. 'The common notion about 
'hardening' children is a grievous delusion. Chil- 
dren are not infrequently 'hardened' out of the world; 



44 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

and those who survive, permanently suffer either in 
growth or constitution. " The reason for this is that 
a constant quantity of heat is necessary to the health 
and growth of the body. If this quantity of heat is 
lessened for any considerable time because of a lack 
of clothing or because of exposure, one of two things 
will result; 

1. The health will be impaired. 2. Or merely 
retarded, or stunted, growth will result. If the con- 
stitution is not strong enough to bear the loss of heat, 
the result will be sickness, disease, and premature 
death. However, if the constitution be sturdy enough 
to bear the loss of heat, no further injury may result 
than stunted growth. 

"This truth is displayed alike in animals and 
man. The Shetland pony bears greater inclemencies 
than the horses of the south, but is dwarfed. High- 
land sheep and cattle, living in a colder climate, are 
stunted in comparison with English breeds. In both 
the arctic and the ant-arctic regions the human race 
falls much below its ordinary height: the Laplander 
and Esquimau are very short; and the Terra del Fue- 
gians, who go naked in a cold latitude, are described 
by Darwin as so stunted and hideous, that one can 
hardly make one's self believe that they are fellow- 
creatures." 

The only safe rule is, cMldren must wear clothes 
sufficient in quantity and quality to protect the body 
from any abiding sensation of cold, however slight. 



THE PHYSICAL. NATURE OP THE CHILD. 45 

Children are also frequently required to wear 
clothing which makes them uncomfortable in order 
to conform to fashion; also, clothing made of such 
unsubstantial material that their freedom of play and 
activity is restricted that the clothing may not be 
soiled or torn. This freedom of activity is very 
necessary to the child's growth and development. 

Prom the standpoint of the child's welfare, the 
following rules should be strictly adhered to in 
clothing children: 

1. While clotJiing sJiould not be in excess, it should 
always be sufftcient in quantity and quality to pre- 
vent any abiding feeling of cold. 

2. It should be made of non-conductive material, 
and strong enough to stand the loear and tear of childish 
s'ports with little damage, oMd of color loell adapted to 
use and exposure. 

The Pedagogy of Food and Clothing. — But what is 
the pedagogical bearing of food and clothing? Two 
thoughts here suggest themselves: 

1. Excellent opportunities often present them- 
selves for bringing these facts, that the child's 
welfare demands that he have plenty of wholesome, 
nutritious food, and plenty of clothing of the right 
quality, before parents and people in general. There 
is opportunity in this respect for great improvement 
in the conditions which affect the education of 
children, and it is the duty of each teacher to do 
what he can to improve these conditions. The teacher 



46 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

must understand and be impressed with the im- 
portance of improvement of these conditions to do 
effectively his part toward bettering them. 

2. The teacher who understands the relation of 
food and clothing to the child's life will not expect the 
same quality or quantity of work from the poorly fed 
and poorly clad child that he will expect from his more 
fortunate companions. Not all children can be 
treated alike in teaching. The teaching must con- 
form to the needs of the child, and the needs of no 
two children are the same. The knowledge of food 
and clothing in their relation to the education of the 
child will give the teacher more charity and more 
sympathy in teaching those children who are poorly 
fed and poorly clad. And the charity and sympathy of 
the teacher for Ms children is of the highest importance 
to them. 

Schoolroom Conditions. — There are several points 
concerning the condition of the schoolroom which are 
properly to be discussed in pedagogy work; and be- 
cause of their relation to the child's physical nature, 
it, from one viewpoint, is proper to discuss them 
here. These points are: 1. Ventilation. 2. Tem- 
perature. 8. Lighting. 4. Seating. 5. Cleanliness. 

Ventilation. — The general well-being of the body 
depends upon the quantity and quality of the blood. 
If the blood be not properly aerated, the whole body 
suffers at once from the effects of the blood upon it. 
There is drowsiness, stupor, fatigue, headache, and a 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 47 

general ill-feeling and the lack of vivacity. These 
conditions continued lead to bad colds, catarrh, 
neuralgia, pneumonia, tuberculosis of the lungs and 
death. From the standpoint of the child's physical 
welfare, proper ventilation is of the highest impor- 
tance. It is not an uncommon thing to find seventy- 
five per cent, of the students in a schoolroom suffering 
"with colds at one time, the teacher oftentimes 
attributing this condition of things to circumstances 
over which he has no control v/hen it often happens 
that he is largely to blame for it in neglecting proper 
ventilation. The child's success in life will depend 
to such a large extent upon his physical excellence 
that it becomes of the highest importance to the 
teacher to do his part in giving him a sound body. 

The Difficulty of Proper Ventilation. — Proper 
ventilation in ninty-nine school houses in a hundred 
is an absolute impossibility. Each person in a mixed 
audience should have not less than 3000 cubic feet of 
fresh air per hour; or to say it in another way, each 
person should be provided with from 40 to 50 cubic feet 
of air per minute, and this should be distributed with- 
out producing draughts. These conditions simply 
can not be provided in most schoolrooms. 

A system of ventilation called the plenum system 
will provide these conditions. According to this 
"the fresh air is forced into the schoolroom by 
means of a fan, and the foul air is pushed out through 
any openings in the rooms, and passes away through 



48 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

a stack. The air in the rooms in such a system as 
this is under constant pressure. All spaces are 
filled with air and all leakage is toward the outside. 
Thus the entrance of contaminated air from any 
outside source is absolutely prevented. " 

The plenum system is the best system because 
the a*ir in the room is under constant pressure toward 
the outside, thus pushing the bad air out all the 
time and preventing any bad air from coming in from 
the outside. 

But not many of our schoolrooms have an engine 
to drive the fan, and most school officers think they 
can not afford such expensive ventilating apparatus. 

Important Points on Ventilation. — Our plan of 
study does not permit a detailed discussion of the 
technique of ventilation, though it is a profitable 
study for the teacher. 

There are two things which must be efficiently 
provided for in a properly ventilated schoolroom: 

1. All parts of the room must be furnished with 
an adequate amount of fresh air at all times. 

2. The air must be got into the room in such a 
way that the pupils and teacher may not be exposed 
to draughts at any time. Draughts are the source 
of colds, sore throat, earache, neuralgia, catarrh, 
rheumatism, etc. 

The two following points also need emphasis: 
1. Air may be cold and at the same time be impure 
and unfit to breathe. 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 49 

2. It is an important duty of every teacher to 
acquaint himself with the technique of ventilation 
in order that he may do as much as possible toward 
ventilating properly both his schoolroom and his 
living rooms. 

That air may be cold and at the same time be 
impure is a truth that janitors as a rule seem entirely 
incapable of getting into their heads. Nearly every 
one has had the exasperating experience of sitting 
at some public gathering suffering intensely from 
cold and bad air at the same time. That the ther- 
mometer in the room shows the temperature to be 
68° is no guarantee of the purity of the air in the 
room. 

Temperature. — No schoolroom is conducive to 
health, which is either too warm or too cold. If it is 
too cold, it will bring on a sensation of chilliness that 
is not only extremely uncomfortable, but dangerous 
to the health. All the evils which result from clothing 
deficient in quantity and quality may likewise result 
from sitting, working, and living in an atmosphere of 
too low temperature. Colds, sore throat, neuralgia, 
earache, catarrh, pneumonia, tuberculosis, rheuma- 
tism, stunted constitution, and arrested physical 
growth, and even death may be traced to this source 
in many cases. 

The results are almost as bad if the schoolroom 
is constantly kept too warm. Two undesirable 
things grow out of constantly keeping the schoolroom 



50 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

too warm, as follows: 

1. The enervating effect a too high temperature 
produces upon one's life. There is nothing which 
more quickly takes the energy, vivacity, and vitality 
out of students and teacher than a school atmosphera 
habitually kept too warm. 

2. The diseases which result from leaving a 
room too warm and going out into the open air. The 
sudden change of temperature brought about in this 
way is a constant source of pulmonary troubles. 

A temperature of 70° Fahrenheit is, all things 
considered, the temperature which should as nearly 
as possible be maintained in the schoolroom. Any 
variation from this of more than two degrees should 
be avoided; for if the temperature be more than 72° 
some one will be suffering with heat; if it be below 
68°, some one will be too cold. 

Every schoolroom should be provided with a 
thermometer, if not by the school board, by the 
teacher, in order that approximately the proper 
temperature may be maintained. A good ther- 
mometer with a scale from 40° below zero to 240^ 
above mounted on a metal frame costs only 25 cts., 
and should be owned by every teacher as an aid in 
his school work. 

It is worthy of note in this connection that 
temperament, clothing, and food of children have a 
direct bearing upon the question of temperature that 
no really earnest, sympathetic teacher will ignore. 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 51 

Some children are comfortable in an atmosphere at 
68°, some at 70°, and others at 72°. Some are clothed 
too warmly, some about right, and some are too 
scantily clothed. Again some have an abundance of 
food of good quality, while others have food deficient 
both in quantity and quality. No teacher can afford 
to overlook these various conditions, and no sympa- 
thetic, loving teacher will want to do so. 

Lighting. — The facilities for lighting our school 
houses are as a rule very bad. They are very much 
worse than people generally suppose, so bad that 
a school house is hardly to be found well enough 
lighted to prevent diseases of the eyes from being- 
contracted where students habitually study in them. 
Light insufficient in quantity is admitted to the room, 
and what is admitted comes into the room in such a. 
way that it hurts the eyes. In fact nine hundred and 
ninety-nine school rooms in a thousand do not con- 
form in their facilities for lighting to the truths 
which modern science teaches on this subject. 

The defects in facilities for lighting our school 
houses are so universal that some diseases of the eyes 
caused thereby have come to be known as school 
diseases. Myopia (short-sightedness) and Asthenopia 
(weakness of the eyes) are the most prevalent of 
these. 

Recent studies show that our school houses have 
been and are veritable factories for producing 
myopia. Large numbers of school children have 



52 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

been studied in Germany, France, Sweeden, Russia, 
and America for the purpose of getting helpful infor- 
mation on the subject of myopia among school 
children. Dr. Hermann Cohn examined the eyes of 
10,060 school children and found myopia gradually 
increasing from 1.4 per cent, in the village schools 
to 26.2 per cent, in the gymnasia. Those children 
who had been in the village schools six months or 
less showed no myopia. 

Dr. Motias examined in France the eyes of 6,680 
students with similar results; he found that in some 
colleges the percentage of myopic students was as 
high as 80. 

Dr. Dowling examined the eyes of 1,000 school 
children in Cincinnati and found that a little more 
than 30 per cent, of them were short-sighted. All 
the cases examined showed a gradual increase of 
myopia from the first grade on through the schools. 

Causes of Myopia. — It is generally agreed among 
school authorities that the causes of myopia among 
school children are as follows: 

1. Too little light in the schoolroom, which re- 
quires habitually holding the work too close to the 
eyes. 

2. Too much written work in the lower grades 
in the preparation and reciting of the lessons. 

3. Too long periods of eye work. 

4. The reading of books printed with too small 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. b'd 

type on glistening paper and with the lines crowded 
too closely together; that is, poorly leaded. 

5. Bad seats which cause stooping postures 
favorable to congestion of the eyes. 

The question, What is to be the test of the proper 
amount of light in the schoolroom? is pertinent. 
Authorities are quite generally agreed that, when 
there are no outside obstructions to keep the light a- 
way from the windows, there will be enough light in 
the room if the windowpane surface is one-fourth of 
the floor surface; that is to say, there should be 1 
square foot of windowpane surface to every 4 square 
feet of floor surface. 

Undesirability of Myopia. — Myopia is a disease. 
It is undesirable and is to be carefully avoided for the 
following reasons : 

1. It is disagreeable, painful oftentimes, and 
always inconvenient. 

2. It is unnatural and places the one afflicted at 
a disadvantage in life in the struggle for success and 
happiness. 

3. It is so closely connected with the nervous 
system that it tends to bring on other nervous 
diseases. 

Bules for Prevention. — Schoolrooms should never 
be more than 33 feet in length and 24 feet in width. 
There should be an abundance of windows so ar- 
ranged as to admit the light from the left and the 



54 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

rear of the students. Blackboards should be at the 
front and at the right. 

Dr. A. G. Young, secretary of the State Board of 
Health in Maine, and an eminent authority on school 
hygiene, gives the following rules for the prevention 
of myopia in school: 

1. The schoolroom should have an abundance of 
light in every part. The principal source of light 
should be at the pupil's left. 

2. The periods of eye work should not be too 
long. 

3. A large part of the instruction should be 
communicated orally during school hours, and the 
eyestraining and timerobbing preparation of written 
lessons should be reduced to the lowest possible 
point. 

4. The school work to be done at home should 
be limited to a very small amount, and in the younger 
classes to none. 

5. The desks and seats should be of the proper 
pattern and size, otherwise stooping or other postures 
favoring congestion of the eye and production of 
myopia will be assumed by the pupil. 

6. The demand for written work should be 
moderate. 

7. The type of all school books and other books 
for children shc-uld be large and distinct. 

8. Blackboards should be of a dead black, no't 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 55 

glossy. They should be placed where they will be 
well lighted. 

If these rules be well observed, other school 
diseases of the eye, as well as myopia, will be reduced 
to the minimum. 

Seating. — This subject will be studied from a 
different viewpoint in the chapter on The Management 
of the School so will receive but brief study here. 

From the standpoint of the child's health, the 
proper seating of a room is much more important 
than usually appreciated. 

Eulenberg studied 1000 cases of spinal curvature 
and found that 95.8 per cent, of this 1000 cases 
originated between the ages of four and twenty, and 
that 92 per cent, originated between the ages of five 
and fourteen. 

Posterior curvature, "round shoulders," and 
lateral curvature are to be avoided as great mis- 
fortunes. Besides detracting much from one's 
personal appearance, they impede respiration and 
other functions. 

Then seats and desks should be of proper size 
and pattern for the following reasons: 

1. That spinal curvatures and other physical 
deformities may be guarded against. 

2. That postures favoring congestion of the eyes 
may be guarded against. 

The demand for proper seats in the schoolroom 



56 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

will sooner or later bring the adjustable seats and 
desks into common use. 

* 'Adjustable desks are among the important im- 
provements of school furniture. There are several 
forms on the market, and the main objection to all of 
them is the price, making it almost an impossibility 
to supply whole schoolrooms with them. From the 
hygienic standpoint, each child should have his desk 
adjusted to himself; but where this is impossible, it 
has been found of advantage to have two rows of 
desks and seats, usually the outer ones, adjustable. 
Extreme cases can thus be accommodated. " 

Cleanliness. — It is a maxim that "cleanliness is 
next to godliness. ' ' A better statement of the fact is, 
cleanliness is godliness. 

Every school house should be kept scrupulously 
neat and clean. No paper, bread crumbs, chalk, 
nutshells, etc., should be allowed upon the floor. 
The abominable habit that some students and even 
teachers have of expectorating upon the school house 
floor should not under any circumstances be toler- 
ated. It should be regarded a criminal offense. 

"The reason for this care is that dust and dirt in 
a schoolroom is a serious sanitary evil. Dust itself 
is an irritant to the eyes and the air passages. Dust 
is known to be a bearer of disease germs. Tubercu- 
losis is certainly transmitted thus, and it is very 
probable that many other infectious diseases are 
spread in the same way. An infectious inflammation 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 57 

of the eyes is sometimes very prevalent in schools, 
and it is believed that the germs of this disease are 
spread by means of the dust in schoolrooms as well 
as in other ways." 

This dust evil could be much reduced, if all 
school houses had hard wood floors well painted, or 
even soft wood floors well filled and painted. It was 
not long since popular to oil the floors of school 
houses, but two good coats of floor paint have been 
made to answer all the purposes of oiled floors and 
found not to have their objectionable features. 

The school house should be swept daily at the 
close of the afternoon session after all the students 
have left the room. The windows should be thrown 
wide open, and the floor sprinkled with damp saw- 
dust before sweeping. 

The teacher who is thoroughly in earnest with 
respect to cleanliness will not be afraid to take the 
broom and duster and set things to rights, even 
though the janitor does slight his work somewhat. 
As a rule one can tell a great deal about the quality of 
the teacher by the condition of his schoolroom. 

Tlie Senses and the Sense Organs. — A sense is the 
mental power to get sensations. Thus sight is the 
mental power to get sensations of light; smell, the 
mental power to get sensations of odor, and so on. 

The sense organs are those organs which bring 
stimulus in such connection with the nervous system 
as to urge the mind to action. There are two general 



58 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

cl'asses of senses : 1. General, or organic. 2. Special. 
Authorities recognize seven special senses, as follows 
in the order of importance: 1. Sight. 2. Hearing. 
S. Touch. 4. Smell. 5. Taste. 6. Temperature. 
7. Muscular sense. 

The general, or organic, sense is that sense which 
gives us a knowledge of the general well-being or ill- 
being of our bodies and has no special sense organ. 
Pain, hunger, thirst, and fatigue are sensations got 
through the general sense. 

The special senses are those senses which give 
ns a knowledge mainly of objects around us and have 
special sense organs. 

The sense organs are of the highest importance 
to one throughout his whole life. Through them the 
-child first awakens to conscious life. Without the 
sense organs the mind would never grow. It would 
remain nothing more than a bundle of undeveloped 
capacities. Without the sense organs all intellectual 
growth as well as all the pleasures of living would be 
dfenied one. 

Since the sense organs are of the highest im- 
portance in education, the maintenance of their health 
and their growth become from a pedagogical point of 
view one of the most practical questions with which 
the teacher has to deal. All of the special sense 
organs are subject to diseased conditions which may 
demand constant attention, but in this brief study 
space is lacking for the consideration of more than 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 59 

two. Of special importance to the teacher are the 
following: 1. The sense organ of hearing. 2. The 
sense organ of sight. 

Hearing. — Diseases of the ear almost always pro- 
duce partial or entire deafness. And too few people 
fully realize what a sad misfortune partial or entire 
deafness is, and how many people are more or less 
deaf. 

"Authorities estimate that fro-m fifty to sixty 
per cent, of the children are more or less defective in 
hearing. It is also claimed that by judicious treat- 
ment the percentage can be reduced to fifteen or 
twenty.*' 

''There are too many partially deaf people in every 
community. Every such one is badly handicapped in 
his business and social relations. How many men 
lose good positions because of defective hearing! 
How many sad and fatal accidents are due to the 
same cause! The new education can do no better 
service to oncoming generations than to preserve and 
perfect this sense in children." 

Children have been accused of dullness ^ stupidity, 
suUenness, and obstinacy when the only difficulty was 
they could not hear what was going on in their school 
work. In order to avoid misunders-tanding his chil- 
dren, every teacher should test, the hearing of his 
children; also, that he may do something towards 
seating them so as to favor the unfortunate ones. 
A teacher can not depend upon the students to in- 



60 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

form him of any defects of hearing for two reasons: 
first, students themselves are often not aware of the 
defects; secondly, people generally are very sensitive 
concerning any physical defects they may have, and 
do not desire to call attention to them. 

The following is an easy and practical schoolroom 
test: "The pupil is placed at one end of the school- 
room with his back turned toward the teacher, who 
dictates in a clear, but not loud voice, while the stu- 
dent writes. The teacher should begin by standing 
at the farther end of the room. If, at that distance, 
the pupil has any difficulty in hearing, the teacher 
gradually approaches until the pupil understands 
perfectly, which will be shown by his writing the 
dictated matter perfectly and without hesitation. 
According to the distance at which the scholar hears 
readily, he is ranked and placed in the schoolroom. 
If, for instance, he hears at a distance of fifteen feet 
only, he is placed within that distance from the 
teacher's desk." 

Seeing. — Myopia has already been discussed as a 
school disease. Few persons, teachers included, are 
aware of the number of cases of headache, and other 
nervous diseases caused by myopic eyes. Astigma- 
tism, resulting from irregularity of curvature of the 
lenses of the eye, is a disease which is frequent 
among students, and causes many nervous headaches. 

''There seems to be no remedy for these defects 
save in glasses properly fitted. It is quite common 



THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 61 

and is a prolific source of headache. Thousands of 
cases of chronic headache have been promptly cured 
by the use of glasses. " 

'*A ministerial friend tells me that a teacher 
forced his son, who was affl-icted with myopia to hold 
his book at the regulation distance, and in the regu- 
lation position as he read or studied, and that the 
headache resulting threw him into such nervous dis- 
orders that at least once a fortnight he was obliged 
to keep him out of school for three or four days. A 
lady friend tells me that her little daughter had been 
coming home every day for months with a bad head- 
ache, and that she was losing all interest in school, 
when the writer visited the city and urged the 
teachers to test the sight and hearing of their pupils. 
This girl was found defective in eyesight and given a 
front seat. In two weeks her headache was all gone, 
and her interest in school had returned." 

A large number of similar cases might be given, 
but these will suffice. 

It is the duty of every teacher to test the eye- 
sight of his children. Every teacher can procure a 
set of Snellin's test cards of almost any jeweler or 
optician for ten cents, and can learn to use them cor- 
rectly in tests in five minutes. They are as good test 
cards as can be secured. Having found the defectives, 
the teacher's duty is to inform the parents or guard- 
ians and do what may be done by seating the stu- 
dents so far as possible so as to favor the defective 



62 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

ones. Any earnest, sympathetic teacher will be 
willing to do so much for his pupils. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 

An Attribute. — An attempt to study anything to 
the end of knowing it well always consists in seeking 
out the attributes of that thing, and an object is well 
known only when many of its attributes have been 
discovered and learned. Thus all learning consists 
in grasping with the mind the attributes of things. 
If one sees all the attributes of any object, he knows 
all there is to know about that object. Then to know 
all the attributes there are in the universe to 
know means entire freedom of the knowing power, 
the intellect. 

An attribute is perhaps indefinable, but the fol- 
lowing statement will characterize it: An attribute 
is any mark of an object which helps the mind in knowing 
it. 

Classes of Attributes. — There are some attributes 
belonging to objects which enable the mind to know 
an object from everything else in the universe. Such 
an attribute is called a particular attribute. There 
are again some attributes which belong to every 
object in a class. Such attributes are called common 
attributes. Of the common attributes some belong 



64 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

^like to each object of a class of objects, but do not 
extend beyond the class. These are class common 
attributes. Also of the common attributes some 
belong alike to each object of a class of objects, and 
extend to things beyond, thus connecting the class 
out with other things in the universe. These are 
universal common attributes. From the above the 
classes of attributes are particular, and common; and 
the classes of the common are class common^ and 
universal common. 

The definitions for these are as follows: 

A particular attribute is an attrib^Ue which dis- 
tinguishes its object from all other objects. 

A common attribute is an attribute ivhich belongs 
alike to each object of a class of objects. 

A class common attribute is a common attribute 
which does not extend beyond the class of objects to 
which it belongs. 

A universal common attribute is a common attri- 
bute ivhich connects a class of objects ivith other objects in 
the universe. 

Illustrations. — If one knows a table well, he 
knows its use, form, color, material, length, height, 
width, weight, and decorations; also, the form, 
length, width, height, use, color, material, make, 
condition and decoration of the parts; also, how the 
parts are connected with the table as a whole and 
with oneanother. But all these are the attributes 
of the table. So to know the table is to know its 
attributes. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 65 

The table, no doubt, has marks not possessed by 
anything else. These are the particular attributes. 

The use is a common attribute and is also a 
class common, since it belongs to all the class, tables, 
and to nothing else. Possessing weight is a univer- 
sal common attribute, since it belongs to other 
things than tables. 

Attributes of Mind. — The first step in studying 
the spiritual, or mental, nature of the child is the 
study of the attributes of the mind. Some might 
think it would consist of the study of the substance 
of which the mind is made, but this can not be done. 
There is absolutely no way to study what the mind 
is made of, but its attributes can be studied. The 
following are important common, or general, attri- 
butes of mind: 

1. Consciousness. 

2. Attention. 

3. Apperception. 

4. Self-activity. 

5. Iterativeness. 

6. Rhythm. 

Consciousness. — If you are asked a question, you 
either know the answer to it or you do not do so, and 
you further know that you know the answer or do 
not know it. That is to say, you know the condition 
of your own mind. It is because of the attribute of 
consciousness that the mind is able to do this. Thus 
through consciousness the mind knows itself, and is 



66 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

thus both the knower and the thing known. If with- 
out provocation some one should strike you in the 
face, you know, without any difficulty, your state of 
mind toward that person. If the question, How do 
you know your own mental states? were asked you, 
you could answer correctly only by saying, / knoiu 
them through consciousness. One gets some idea of 
consciousness, if he compares his state of mind 
when he is sound asleep with his state of mind when 
he is awake. In the first state he is more or less un- 
conscious while in the second state consciousness is 
at work. 

Consciousness is considered indefinable by some 
psychologists, but it surely can be defined as nearly 
as many other things which are considered definable. 
The following is the definition for it: 

Consciousness is that attribute of mind by virtue of 
tvhich the mind knows its oivn conditions and activities. 

Function of Consciousness. — Consciousness is the 
most fundamental attribute of the mind. Without 
consciousness the mind, as we know it, could not 
exist. Consciousness has the following three func- 
tions : 

1. It enables us to know one mental experience 
from another. 

2. It enables us to know the value of mental 
experiences to ourselves. 

3. It enables us to direct our mental activities 
to the accomplishment of mental work. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 67 

Attention. — The mind is constantly having ex- 
periences. Mental life, and physical life, too, are a 
succession of experiences. An experience is a change 
of any kind, and a mental experience is then a mental 
change of any kind. Thus mental life is a succession 
of mental changes. 

Most of our mental experiences are carried on 
without the mind's hQvug fully conscious of them, but 
the mind has the ability of bringing any experience 
fully into consciousness and focusing its energy upon 
it. It is able to do this through the attribute of 
attention. 

From the study so far it may be seen that there 
are two steps in the process of attending: 

1. The bringing of some experience fully into 
consciousness. 

2. The focusing of the mind's energy upon it. 
At first thought it seems that the mind's energy 

is focused upon something outside of the mind, but a 
careful study shows that the mind's energy is always 
focused upon some mental experience. 

From the above study the definition of attention 
is as follows : 

Attention is that attribute of the mind by virtue of 
ivhich the mind brings some experience fully into con- 
sciousness and focuses its energy upon it. 

Illustration. — One is sitting in his room studying 
his lesson in arithmetic. The clock is sitting on the 
mantel shelf ticking away as loudly as usual, but he 



68 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

does not hear it clearly, though he has a sort of dim 
consciousness of its ticking. Suppose some one says, 
"How loudly the clock ticks!" Immediately he hears 
it plainly. That is to say, the mind brings fully into 
consciousness the experience corresponding to the 
ticking of the clock and focuses its energy upon it. 
The focusing element in attending is analogous to the 
action of a lens in focusing the rays of light. 

Classes of Attention. — On the basis of the effort 
involved there are two classes of attention: 1. Non- 
voluntary. 2. Voluntary. If the mind gives atten- 
tion to a thing because it is so attractive that there is 
no seeming effort, the attention is non-voluntary. If 
on the other hand an appreciable effort is required in 
order to give attention, the attention is of the vol- 
untary kind. The following are the definitions: 

N on- voluntary attention is that kind of attention 
in which no appreciable effort is involved. 

Yoluntary attention is that kind of attention in 
which an appreciable effort is involved. 

Interest. — Interest is the basis of attention; that 
is, the mind must be interested in a thing to pay 
attention to it. The following is a definition for 
interest: 

Interest is any feeling for an object tvhich the mind 
regards as the cause of the feeling. If an object is so 
attractive in itself as to hold the mind's interest, the 
interest is said to be direct; if, however, the interest 
is not in the thing itself, but in something else to 



THE MENTAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 69 

which the thing is a means, the interest is indirect. 
Thus one sometimes studies a subject not because he 
is interested in the subject but because he thinks 
he needs it. Thus the classes of interest are: 
1. Direct. 2. Indirect. 

Direct interest is that kind of interest in luMch no 
appreciable effort is involved. 

Indirect interest is that kind of interest in which 
an appreciable effort is involved. 

Apperception. — All learning is the mind's process 
of getting meaning. But this statement does not 
give much help unless we see what meaning is, and 
what has the meaning. It seems at first thought 
that objects in the outside world possess the mean- 
ing, but a closer study shows that this is not the 
case. The mind in learning a thing gets meaning 
from it just to the extent to which it can connect its 
past experiences with the present experiences and 
grasp the likeness and difference between them. 
And from the above it is seen that meaning is the 
relation between present and past mental experiences and 
is in the mind. 

It is because of the attribute of apperception 
that the mind is enabled to connect the past mental 
experience with the present in knowing, willing and 
feeling. But this is not all apperception enables the 
mind to do. Apperception enables the mind to 
change itself permanently with each experience. 
Certainly every experience the mind has leaves a 



70 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

permanent effect upon it. The mind never is again 
after an experience just what it was before the ex- 
perience. Psychologists say experiences are organ- 
ized into the mind, but it seems easier to say exper- 
iences leave their effects upon the mind. 

From the above study it is seen that there are 
two parts to apperceiving: 

1. Bringing past experiences to bear upon the 
present experiences. 

2. Organizing the present experiences into the 
self. 

By making a synthesis of these points the follow- 
ing definition for apperception is reached: 

Apperception is that attribute of mind by virtue of 
which it brings its past experience to bear upon the pres- 
ent experience in getting its meaning, and by virtue of 
which the present experience is organized into the mind. 

The last part of apperceiving may very appro- 
priately be called mental assimilation. 

Illustrations. — If one who knows nothing of geol- 
ogy were walking down a valley and should find a 
rock almost round, but having a plane surface as if it 
were worn off by holding it on a grindstone, he would 
probably get much the same meaning as he would by 
looking at any other rock. But if a geologist should 
find it, he would connect his past experience with 
that aroused by the rock and say it called to his mind 
an ice age, when tremendous ice fields covered all the 
northern part of Indiana. The difference in these 



THE MENTAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 71 

two men would be in the experience they brought to 
bear upon the experience aroused by the rock. 

A child called a jardiniere of ferns "a pot of green 
feathers." 

A small boy called a locomotive "a big bow-wow." 

The south sea islanders called Captain Cook's 
goats "horned hogs." 

In each of the above cases the present experience 
was connected with the past in trying to get meaning, 
and the mind was able to do this because of the attri- 
bute of apperception. 

Self -activity. — Some idea of self -activity may be 
had by comparing objects which possess it with those 
which do not. A sewing machine acts in sewing, but 
always from a power without itself. A threshing 
machine acts, but the cause of its activity is not with- 
in it. All machines act in a manner similar to the 
threshing machine or sewing machine; that is, from 
a cause not in themselves. A horse acts from a 
cause within himself in taking food and changing it in- 
to horse flesh; and, also, by moving from place to place, 
he acts. A plant acts in growing by taking its food 
from the soil and air and making it into plant tissue. 
The action of the horse and plant are caused from 
within while the action of the machine is caused from 
without. The horse and the plant possess self- 
activity but the machine does not. The mind pos- 
sesses this attribute by which it causes its own 
activities, and thus is self -active. The definition from 
the above is as follows: 



72 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Self-activity is that attribute of mind bij virtue of 
which it causes itself to act. 

Iterativeness. — When the muscles of the arm and 
fingers perform the movements in making any char- 
acter in writing for the first time, the activity is done 
with difficulty and very unskillfully, but repeated 
attempts give more skill and success. Each act 
makes the performance a little more easily accom- 
plished. What was it that remained with the muscles 
after each activity that caused them to perform the 
act again with more ease? This can be answered only 
by saying it is a tendency left in the muscle. By 
tendency is meant a disposition to perform some activity. 
Thus the plumule of a plant has a tendency to grow 
upward, and the radix has a tendency to grow down- 
ward. We fold a piece of paper, and then say it has 
a tendency to fold in the same place again. The 
mind possesses this attribute by virtue of which it 
has a tendency to act as it has acted, and this is what 
is called iterativeness. Conclusions from the above 
study give the following definition: 

Iterativeness is that attribute of mind by virtue of 
which it tends to act again as it has acted. 

Without iterativeness one could not learn to walk, 
to talk, to write, nor could he learn any art whatever. 
He could not remember anything nor make progress 
in mental growth. In short, human life as we know 
it would be an impossibility. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CPHLD. 73 

Rhythm. — When the word, rhythm^ is spoken, the 
average person probably thinks of poetry and music. 
But rhythm is an attribute that belongs to almost 
everything in the world. Everything from a dew- 
drop to an ocean, from a pebble to a continent, pos- 
sesses rhythm. Every leaf, every flower, and every 
blade of grass possesses rhythm. Rhythm in its 
broadest sense is a thing, the departure from that 
thing, and a return to it. The following is rhythmical: 

"The day is cold and dark and dreary; 
It rains and the wind is never weary." 

In this there is the sound symbolized by eary in 
the word, "dreary. ^^ This is the thing, and "It rains, 
and the wind is never w" is the departure from it. 
The return to the thing is eary in the word "iveary.^^ 

In the maple leaf rhythm is manifested by a 
portion on the right half always having a correspond- 
ing like portion on the left half, the part between the 
like parts being different. One of the like parts is 
the thing, that between them is the departure from 
it, and the other like part is the return to it. The 
human mind possesses this tendency to act, to de- 
part from it, and to return to it, and this is caUed the 
attribute of rhythm. Since the mind is rhythmical 
it likes rhythm in anything and dislikes that which 
is not rhythmical. The world is full of rhythm, and 
the human mind longs for it. 

The following is a definition for rhythm as an 
attribute of the mind: Rhythm is that attribute of 



7^ STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

the mind by virtue of luhich the mind acts an activity, 
departs from it, and tends to return to it at regularly 
recurring periods. 

Activities of the Mind. — If we will examine our 
mental activities by looking within our minds, we 
will find that we are sometimes almost wholly oc- 
cupied in thinking, again we are depressed with 
sorrow, and at other times we are almost wholly 
occupied in directing our muscular or mental activ- 
ities in doing something. These distinctions among 
the mind's activities give grounds for the classification 
of them into: 

1. Knowing. 

2. FeeUng. 

3. Willing. 

Thus knowing, feeling, and loilling are the three 
large classes into which all mental activities are 
divided. 

Knoiving. — An accurate statement for knowing 
is, knoiving is the mind's process of getting meaning. 
But this statement does not give sufficient help unless 
the term, meaning, is well understood. Most persons, 
at first thought, would probably say that meaning is 
something which belongs to objects in the external 
world. But careful thinking reveals the fact that 
things very unlike what the mind has ever known 
have very little meaning to it. And this thought 
carried out shows that, if it were possible to find any- 
thing entirely different from anything the mind has 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 75 

ever known, it would suggest absolutely no meaning 
to the mind. Again, two persons look at the word, 
obliviscor, and while one gets no meaning from it, to 
the other it means / forget. So scarcely any two 
persons get the same meaning from an object or 
event which they see. An object or event stimulates 
to an activity of the mind, and, if the mind has past 
mental activities of a similar character to connect the 
present activity with, it is said the mind gets mean- 
ing. From this it may be seen that meaning is a 
thing which is in the mind. That is to say, meaning 
is relation; and further, it is the relation between 
present mental experiences and past mental exper- 
iences. But even here there are two terms whose 
meaning must be understood. The first, experience, 
explained in a former paragraph, is any change^ or 
activity, and any mental experience is any mental 
change, or activity. The second, relation, is the like- 
ness between mental experiences. Relation means 
in this connection what it means wherever used; 
namely, the connection the mind sees between its 
experiences because of their likeness. 

We are now in a position to give the following 
definitions for knowing: 

Knowing is the mind\s process in getting meaning. 

Knowing is the mind^s process in grasping the re- 
lation 'between its present and past experiences. 

Discriminating and Unifying. — Discriminating is 
seeing differences and unifying is seeing likenesses. 



76 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The mind in knowing sees likenesses and differences 
between its experiences and thus discriminates and 
unifies. Thus knowing is both discriminating and 
unifying. One thing necessary in knowing a maple 
tree is to see the difference in the mental activity it 
arouses and in the mental activity aroused by an oak 
tree; and a second thing necessary is to see the like- 
ness between the activity aroused by the maple tree 
and the activities aroused by maple trees in the past. 

All Knowing Indirect. — There is no way for the 
mind to get meaning directly from an object. The 
past experience must always come in as a factor in 
knowing. This truth has led psychologists to say 
that all knoiving is indirect, or mediative. That is to 
say the experience aroused by any object is always 
referred to the past experience, and this act of refer- 
ring to the past experience is the mediative element in all 
knowing. It is this act of reference that makes the 
knowing indirect. 

Feeling. — Every experience the mind has changes 
it both temporarily and permanently. It never is 
after an experience quite what it was before the ex- 
perience. Some of ' these experiences change the 
mind for the better and some change it for the worse, 
but all must change the mind permanently in some 
way. This change of the self by an experience both 
temporary and permanent is called the value of an exper- 
ience by psychologists. If the experience is in har- 
mony with the growth toward self-realization, the 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 77 

experience has a positive value to the self. If the 
experience is not in harmony with the growth toward 
self-realization, it has a negative value to the self. 

The mind has the ability of being aware, to a 
greater or less extent, of the value of its experiences 
to itself. That is to say, the mind knows or thinks 
it knows, at least, when it has an experience, whether 
the experience is in harmony or conflict with its 
growth toward self-realization. It is no doubt true 
that experiences are unfavorable to the growth to- 
ward self realization, even when the mind regards 
them as favorable. And it holds equally true that an 
experience may be favorable to the growth towards 
self-realization, yet the mind regard it as unfavorable. 

"When the mind has an experience, and becomes 
aware of the value of this experience to the self, the 
state of mind which arises as a result of this becom- 
ing aware is feeling. 

Feeling is the state of mind tvJiich results from the 
mind^s becoming aware of the value of an experience to 
the self 

An analysis of this definition reveals the follow- 
ing points : 

1. A state of mind. 

2. An experience. 

3. The value of an experience. 

4. Becoming aware. 

5. The self. 



78 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

By state of mind is meant the disturbed or 
agitated condition of consciousness. It is a deeper 
condition than what is ordinarily called mental ac- 
tivities. In the activity of a muscle, the whole muscle 
acts together, but the individual molecules in the 
muscle act, too. The activities of the mind are anal- 
ogous to the activities of the muscle as a whole while 
the state of mind is analogous to the molecular action. 

Feeling is always a state, or condition, of the mind, 
and is always an accompaniment of an activity. 

An experience, as before said, is any change, or 
activity, whatever. It is the thing which feeling al- 
ways accompanies. 

The value of an experience is the effect of the ex- 
perience on the life of the person. This effect is in part 
temporary and in part permanent. One thing is 
certain, one's experiences organize, build his char- 
acter, for a higher or lower destiny. 

Becoming aware is the recognition by the mind 
of the value of an experience. The thing become 
aware of is thus the value of an experience. The mind 
does not always consciously think out the value of an 
experience, but it either consciously or unconsciously 
recognizes it. 

The self in the widest sense includes both the 
body and the mind. Thus there are the physical self 
and the mental self. Tlie mental self is the original 
capacity of the mind to knoiv, feel, and will plus the 
effect of its experiences upon it. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 79 

Love, Hate, and Indifference. — Love, hate, and in- 
difference are called the three fundamental forms of 
feeling; that is, all feeling is one of the three: love, or 
hate, or indifference. 

When the mind has an experience which it re- 
gards as having a positive value to the self the feeling 
which arises is love, or like. The definition is as fol- 
lows: Love is the feeling lohich arises tvhen the mind 
has an experience which it regards as having a positive 
value to the self 

If the mind has an experience which it regards 
as having a negative value to the self, the feeling 
which arises is hate, or dislike. The definition is as 
follows: Hate is the feeling that arises ivhen the mind 
has an experience which it regards as having a negative 
value to the self 

If the mind regards the experience as having 
little or no value to the self, the state of mind which 
arises is indifference. The definition is as follows: 
Indifference is that state of mind which arises ivhen the 
mind has an experience which it regards as having little 
or no positive or negative value to the self There is 
perhaps no such thing as absolute indifference with 
respect to anything, for indifference is a state of 
mind in which there is an absence of feeling. We, 
however, have some feeling with respect to every- 
thing. 

The Function of Feeling. — Peeling is a kind of 
safeguard which nature has given us. It urges us to 



80 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

act; that is, feeling is a spring to action. It also urges 
us to avoid experiences which hinder our develop- 
ment. 

Feeling always accompanies activity. If the ac- 
tivity causes growth in self-realization, a pleasant 
feeling accompanies it to urge us to repeat the 
activity for the self -development which it furnishes. 
If the activity hinders growth in self-realization, a 
disagreeable feeling accompanies it to urge us to 
avoid the activity because of its hindrance to our self- 
realization. 

Everything which one voluntarily does, he does 
because of feeling. Thus feeling is both a mainspring 
and a guide in human action^ and this is its function. 

Willing. — Willing is a complex process involving 
both knowing and feeling, but characterized by striv- 
ing to act in some way. The process of willing 
always begins with an impulse. Impulse is an excess 
of energy, or it is a felt pressure to act in some way. 
Impulse produces some sort of change. The impulse 
which urges the bird to build its nest is a good ex- 
ample of a typical impulse. There are, however, 
several kinds of impulse. The thing which causes 
the little child to throw his arms and legs about in 
any direction before he has control of himself is the 
impulse, or excess of energy. By a rather complex 
process impulse in the act of willing is changed into 
desire. Desire is a feeling directed toward something 
which it is thought will satisfy the feeling. And 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 81 

desire in the process of willing is changed into choice. 
Then, lastly, the mind directs the activities toward 
the realization of the choice. From the above the defi- 
nition for willing is as follows: Willing is the process 
in ivhich the mind changes impulse into desire ^ desire into 
choice, and in which the mind seeks to realize the choice. 

An analysis of the definition of willing shows the 
following points in it: 

1. Impulse. 

2. Desire. 

3. Choice. 

4. The process by which impulse becomes 
desire. 

5. The process by which desire becomes choice. 

6. The process by which choice seeks to realize 
itself. 

Impulse and desire have been explained. Choice 
will be explained after the discussion of point five. 

A careful analysis of the process by which im- 
pulse becomes desire will show the following points 
involved in it: 

1. The mind sees its real condition. 

2. The mind sees an ideal condition of itself. 

3. The mind compares these two. 

4. The mind decides that one is better or worse 
than the other. 

5. A feeling of dissatisfaction arises. 

6. This feeling becomes desire. 



82 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Illustration. — A student knows of a lecture, which 
arouses an impulse in him. He is at home — his real 
condition; he thinks of his being at the lecture — the 
ideal condition; he compares these two; he decides 
that to be at the lecture would be a better condition 
than to be at home; then he is dissatisfied to be at 
home, and so desires to have himself at the lecture. 

The process in which the desire becomes choice 
involves what is called the conjiict of desires. That is 
to say, there are more than one desire before the 
mind and from which the mind must select. In 
the illustration given the student probably desired to 
stay at home and study his lesson, but he also desired 
to go to the lecture. Since he could not both go to 
the lecture and stay at home, there was a conflict of 
the two desires. In this case he selects his desire to 
go to the lecture and drops the other out of mind, and 
this act of selecting is the choice. Thus the thing 
chosen is a desire. An analysis reveals the following 
in choice: 

1. Two or more desires before the mind. 

2. The mind compares these. 

3. The mind decides which is preferable. 

4. The selecting of the preferable one — the 
choice. 

The process by which the mind seeks to realize 
the choice consists simply of the directing of the 
activities to perform the deed. The directing is purely 
mental^ but the activities directed may be either 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 83 

mental or physical. In the illustration above, the 
mind's directing the physical activities of going to 
the lecture was the process in which the mind was 
seeking to realize the choice. 

The Functions of the Will. — Repeated acts of the 
will result in the formation of self-control and char- 
acter. So it is the function of willing to give these 
two things : character and self-control. 

Self -control is of three kinds: p/i^sica?, prudential, 
and moral. Thus the function of the will is to give 
physical control, prudential control, moral control, and 
character. 

The Study of the Will. — Since the will is the power 
by which the process of loilling is carried on, and the 
power can be studied only by studying its activities, 
all study of the will, no matter how far pursued, con- 
sists only in elaborating the points begun here. That 
is to say, to make a profound and intensive study of 
the will would be nothing more than elaborating im- 
pulse, desire, choice, self-control, and character. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 

The Development of Knoiving. — The best way to 
study knowing intensively is to study its develop- 
ment. But the question, What is development of 
knowing? at once suggests itself. To answer this 
question it is necessary to rethink that knowing is 
grasping the relation between present and past mental 
experiences. Then knowing which is developed only 
to a small extent is that knowing in which but few 
relations are grasped; and knowing which is highly 
developed is that knowing in which many relations 
are grasped. From which it appears that develop- 
ment in knowing consists in grasping more and more 
relations. To show then that one kind of knowing is 
more developed than another kind is to show that 
more relations are grasped in one kind than in 
another. 

Illustration. — If one studies a butterfly but five 
minutes, he knows little about it because he has seen 
the butterfly in only a few relations; that is, he has 
grasped but few relations, and his knowledge of the 
butterfly is but little developed. Suppose now that 
he studies the butterfly five months; then he will 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 85 

know much about it because he has seen it in many 
relations; that is, he has grasped many relations, and 
his knowledge of the butterfly is much developed. 
Thus the development of one's knowledge of a thing 
consists in grasping more and more relations. And 
we again reach the conclusion that development in 
knoioing is gaining in the number of relations grasped. 

Stages in the Development of Knoiving. — As know- 
ing develops it passes through various stages some- 
what analogous to one's passing through stages on a 
journey. These stages have been given the following 
names by psychologists in the order of their develop- 
ment: 

1. Sense-perception. 

2. Memory. 

3. Imagination. 

4. Conception. 

5. Definition. 

6. Judgment. 

7. Reasoning. 

8. Systematization. 

9. Intuition. 

The Basis of Development. — The sensation is the 
basis of development in knowing; and it is likewise 
the basis of development in feeling and willing. 

The sensation is the first, most primitive, and 
least developed mental activity which the mind ever 
has. It is the first conscious step in the mental 



86 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

changes succeeding the physical changes. It helps 
to bridge across from the physical to the mental. 

If one places his hand on a chestnut burr, it acts 
as a stimulus, which excites the outer, or peripheral, 
nerve ending. This disturbance of the peripheral 
nerve ending extends along the nerve fiber to the 
brain and there arouses a disturbance. This dis- 
turbance of the brain is followed by a change of the 
mind which causes a state of consciousness — the 
sensation. 

From this it may be seen that the steps leading 
up to the sensation are the following: 

1. Stimulus. 

2. Excitation of the peripheral nerve ending, 

3. Transmission of the impulse. 

4. Brain change. 

5. Corresponding mental change. 

6. The state of consciousness — the sensation. 
The stimulus is any form of motion which comes 

in contact with some part of the nervous system. 
Thus the stimulus of hearing is motion in the air; the 
stimulus of sight is motion of the ether; the stimulus 
of touch is the motion in the molecules of matter. 

An impulse has been well defined as an excess of 
energy. Thus in the transmission of the impulse 
one particle of nervous matter has an excess of 
energy and strikes against another particle and 
transfers some of its energy to it; and it in turn 
strikes the next, transferring some of its energy to 



THE MENTAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 87 

the next, and so on till the impulse reaches the brain. 
Then the disturbance spreads and produces the 
brain change. 

An induction from the above study gives the 
following definition for the sensation: 

The sensation is a state of consciousness arising 
from a change in the mind corresponding to a change in 
the brain caused by some external stimulus. 

Students sometimes get the wrong impression 
that the sensation is in part a physical thing. Pour 
of the steps leading to the sensation are physical, but 
the sensation itself is a state of consciousness, and 
consciousness is purely a mental thing. 

Classes of Sensations. — There are two classes of 
sensations: general, or organic, and special. 

General, or organic, sensations are those which 
give us a knowledge of the ill-being or well-being of 
our bodies, and have no special sense organs. Pain, 
fatigue, hunger, and thirst are general sensations. 

Special sensations are those which mainly give 
us a knowledge of objects around us, and have special 
sense organs. Light, sound, odor, and favor are 
special sensations. 

Characteristics of the Sensation, — The sensation 
has four characteristics as follows: 

1. Quality. 

2. Intensity. 

3. Duration. 

4. Local sign. 



88 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The quality of sensations is the main thing which 
enables the mind to tell the differences between 
things. The mind knows hot from cold, sweet from 
sour, rough from smooth, white from black, etc., 
because of a difference in the quality of its sensa- 
tions. 

The main thing which causes a difference in the 
quality of the sensation is a difference in the quality 
of the stimulus. 

The intensity of sensations is very well illus- 
trated by the difference in the sensation furnished 
by a light of ten candle power and one of seventy-five 
candle power; or by the difference in the sensation 
furnished by the light from a kerosene lamp and by 
that of an electric light. 

The main cause of the difference in the intensity 
of sensations is the difference in the intensity of the 
stimulus. 

The duration of the sensation is indicated by the 
time during which it lasts. Thus the difference be- 
tween a half note and a whole note of the same pitch, 
intensity, and quality, is in their duration. Again, 
some tastes endure for a long time while others 
disappear quickly. 

The mind is able through the sensation to tell 
the point of application of the stimulus. Thus when 
the foot is touched the mind does not make the mis- 
take of thinking it is the face which is touched. That 
characteristic of the sensation which enables the 



THE MENTAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 89 

mind to tell the point of application of the stimulus is 
the local sign. 

The Aspects of the Sensation. — If one would put 
his hand on a hot stove, the sensation got would 
(1) enable him to know something, (2) give pain, 
(3) stimulate him to act. Thus the sensation has 
three aspects, and they are as follows: 

1. Intellectual. 

2. Emotional. 

3. Volitional. 

The intellectual aspect of the sensation is that 
one which enables the mind to get knowledge from 
the sensation. It furnishes the basis for the develop- 
ment of knowing. 

The emotional aspect of the sensation is that 
aspect which is pleasurable or painful. It furnishes 
the basis for the development of feeling. 

The volitional aspect of the sensation is that 
aspect which urges to action. It furnishes the basis 
for the development of willing. 

Comparison of General and Special Sensations. — 
The following points in the comparison of general 
and special sensations are worthy of notice: 

1. General sensations enable the mind to know 
the well-being or ill-being of the body, the special, 
mainly the outside world. 

2. General sensations have no special sense 
organs, but the special have. 



90 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

3. The knowledge got through general sensa- 
tions is vague, while that obtained through special 
sensations is much more definite. 

4. The emotional aspect predominates in the 
general sensations, the intellectual, in the special. 

Sense-perception. — The sensation is not knowing, 
but sense-perception, the first stage in the develop- 
ment of knowing, is based upon and developed out of 
the sensation. As soon as the mind begins to connect 
its sensations, and see the likeness and difference 
between them, that is, relate them, it is sense-perceiv- 
ing. The sensation itself is an isolated thing. 

Thus sensations are the material which the mind 
works up into knowledge of external objects, as it 
were. They are analogous to the threads which are 
woven into cloth; the cloth is analogous to the knowl- 
edge, and the weaving process is analogous to sense- 
perceiving. In sense-perception the mind interprets 
the sensations; that is, gets meaning — sees the like- 
ness and difference between thera. We are now in a 
position to give the following definition for it: 

Sense-perception is the mental process of inter- 
preting the sensation corresponding to some external 
object. 

The mind usually regards its sensations as 
attributes of objects. Thus the mind regards the 
sensation, sour, as an attribute of acid; the sensation, 
sweet, as an attribute of sugar; the sensations, green, 
red, etc., as attributes of objects. It is in this way 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 91 

that the mind learns to interpret sensations and to 
know the corresponding objects. Thus the mind 
interprets a patch of red color as a strawberry; a 
patch of blue color as a bunch of grapes; a certain 
note as a bluebird, or a certain odor as a clover field. 

Classes of Sense - perception. — There are two 
classes of sense-perception on the basis of develop- 
ment: original sense-perception^ and acquired sense- 
perception. 

If one learns that a piece of red-hot iron is hot 
by placing his hand upon it, he gets his knowledge 
through the temperature sense, the only way there is 
of directly getting such knowledge. At first, sight 
could not give such knowledge, but later the mind 
would know that the iron is hot through sight. 

The perception of the iron as hot through the 
temperature sense is an example of original sense- 
perception; its perception through sight is an example 
of acquired sense-perception. 

Original sense-perception is that kind of sense- 
perception in which the mind interprets the sensations 
from one sense luithout the aid of the sensations from 
any other sense. 

Acquired sense-perception is that kind of sense- 
perception in lohich the mind interprets the sensation 
from one sense hy the aid of the sensations from some 
other sense. 

The Object of Sense-perception. — The object with 
which sense-perception deals is one which possesses 



92 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

marks that distinguish it from all other things; one 
which is external to the mind; one which occupies 
space, and one present in time and space. Thus the 
object of sense-perception is: 

1. Particular. 

2. External. 

3. Material. 

4. Present in time and space. 

By present in time is meant coexistent with the 
act of sense-perception. And by present in space is 
meant in such a position as to furnish a stimulus to 
the senses. 

The Percept. — Every process produces some sort 
of a product. Thus the product of sense-perception 
is called a percept. The percept is the idea of the 
sense-perceived object with its characteristics just 
mentioned above. The definition is as follows: 

The percept is an idea of a particular, external, 
material object present in time and space. 

Memory. — Every experience the mind has leaves 
a tendency for the mind to act again a little more 
easily, as it acted in that experience. This tendency 
for the mind to act again as it acted before is called 
retention in psychology. Thus we learn the definition 
for the noun to-day, and to-morrow we are able to 
give it when called upon; and we say we retained it. 
But where was it in the meantime? It remained with 
the mind only as a tendency. That is to say, the 
mind keeps the disposition to act again as it acted 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 93 

when the noun was learned. When the mind acts an 
experience it has before acted the process is called 
reacting, or reproducing. These two things, retention 
and reacting, are elements of memory. But there 
must also be another element. When the mind re- 
acts an experience, if it is a complete process of 
memory, it must be aware that the present ex- 
perience is one it has had before. This process of 
seeing that the present experience is not a new one, 
but one the mind has had before, is called identifying. 
The present experience is identified with the past 
experience. This act of identifying is the third 
element in memory. We are now in a position to 
give the following definition for memory: 

Memory is the mental process of retaining, reacting, 
and identifying past mental experiences. 

As before said, retention is the mind's tendency 
to act again as it has acted. Just what this tendency 
is in ultimate analysis, no one knows, but that the 
disposition to act again as it has acted is a mark of 
the mind is very evident. 

The reacting is just the working of the mind as 
it has worked before. Thus if the mind thinks that 
life is an intense struggle to-day and to-morrow thinks 
the same thing, the mind has reacted a past ex- 
perience. 

When one reacts an experience and is conscious 
that he has had this experience before, he is identi- 
fying the present experience with the past. The 



94 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

identifying element is absolutely necessary to mem- 
ory. Without it the act could not be called one of 
memory. 

The Classes of Memory. — On the basis of develop- 
ment there are four classes of memory, as follows: 

1. Recognition. 

2. Remembrance of the Particular. 

3. Remembrance of the General. 

4. Recollection. 

Recognition is the least developed kind of mem- 
ory and is most like sense-perception, but it is a little 
advance in development over sense-perception. In 
recognition the object is alv^ays present as it was in 
sense-perception, and the object is always particular. 
In addition to reperceiving the object the mind al- 
ways knows that it is reacting the activity corre- 
sponding to it at a different time from the former 
activity and usually at a different place. 

Thus the knoiving that the mind has perceived the 
object before, the grasping of more time relations, and 
more place relations constitute the advance in de- 
velopment of recognition over sense-perception. 

Illustration. — As one passes down the street and 
meets his friends, he says he recognizes each one; he 
is using the term, recognize, just right, for in each 
case he is reknowing his friend in an act of recogni- 
tion. The object, his friend, is particular, present, 
and is known to have been known before. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 95 

Remembrance of the particular is the next higher 
kind of memory. In this kind of memory the object 
remembered is never present, but it is always a 
particular object. The process is as follows: the 
mind has an activity corresponding to some object 
some element of which is like some previously known 
object. From the suggestion of this like element the 
mind reacts the entire activity appropriate to the 
previously known object, and thus remembers it. 

The main advance of remembrance of the par- 
ticular over recognition is that it enables the mind to 
think of objects when they are not present. This is 
an immense advance, for to be able to think of objects 
only in their presence would detract tremendously 
from the mind's power of thought. 

Illustration. — One sees a basket of fruit sitting in 
a show window. This makes him think of a par- 
ticular fruit farm he has seen in Michigan. From 
the suggestion of the like element in the basket of 
fruit the mind goes ahead and finishes up the whole 
activity appropriate to the fruit farm previously 
known, and thus remembers it. 

The next higher kind of memory is remembrance 
of the general. In this kind of memory the mind 
remembers a general idea, or general notion. If, 
when a child is given a piece of crayon and told to 
make triangles on the board, he is able to do so, it is 
because he remembers the general idea, triangle. 



^96 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The process is as follows: the mind has an ac- 
tivity corresponding to something some element of 
T\7hich is like some element of the general idea. From 
the suggestion of the like element, the mind rethinks 
the general idea, and thus remembers it. 

Illustration. — A teacher held up an overshoe and 
Bsked the students what it put them in mind of. A 
student said it put him in mind of a flatboat. The 
teacher asked what one and the student said no par- 
ticular one. The student's act of memory was 
remembrance of the general. The advance of remem- 
brance of the general over remembrance of the 
particular is that it enables the mind to think of 
things in classes or generals. This enables the mind 
to save much time and energy. 

Recollection is the most developed kind of mem- 
ory. It is characterized by a special effort of the 
will to get hold of some associated line which will 
suggest the thing to be remembered. 

The process is as follows: the mind has an ac- 
tivity corresponding to some object some element of 
which is missing. The mind is aware that there is a 
missing element, and makes a special effort of the 
will to bring into consciousness some associated line 
to suggest the missing element. If it succeeds, the 
act is complete. 

Illustration. — I see a flower, but can not remem- 
ber its name — the missing element. I then try to 
think where I saw the flower before, how its name 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 97 

looked on the page, etc., and thus succeed in recalling 
its name. 

A gentleman stepped into a store and saw a man 
whose face seemed familiar, but could not remember 
his name or where he had seen him before. He then 
made an effort to get hold of some associated line to 
suggest the name and circumstances under which he 
had been known. He went back to the different 
places in which his life had been spent for five years 
and thus remembered the missing elements. 

The advance of recollection over the other kinds 
of memory is in ( 1 ) tJie effort involved; (2) the number 
of relations grasped. In the effort to get hold of some 
associated line to suggest the missing element more 
relations are grasped than in any other kind of 
memory. 

The Laiu of Memory. — There is but one law of 
memory, and it is as follows: The mind remembers 
things wholly through their associations. Thus, if 
when one sees a thistle, Scotland comes into mind, it 
is because the thistle and Scotland have been asso- 
ciated in that mind; if one remembers France when 
he sees the lily, it is because France and the lily have 
been associated. 

Association. — But the question, What is associa- 
tion? at once suggests itself. When one looks at the 
word, dog^ the idea, dog^ comes into consciousness. 
This occurs because the idea of the word, dog, and 
the idea, dog, have been held in consciousness at the 



98 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

same time; also, if two or more things have been held 
in consciousness in close succession, they will suggest 
each other. Thus it appears that association is noth- 
ing more than the process of holding two or more 
things in consciousness at the same time or in close 
succession. The following is the formal definition 
for it: 

Association is the mental process of holding two or 
more things in consciousness at the same time or in close 
succession. 

Laios of Association. — There are two classes of 
laws of association: primary^ and secondary. 

The primary law of association explains why 
ideas succeed one another at all in consciousness. 
The secondary laws explain why, when several ideas 
have been associated with an idea, it suggests one in 
preference to another. Thus, if ideas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 
and 7 have been associated with idea x, when x comes 
into consciousness, why will idea 5 come into con- 
sciousness rather than 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 7? The secon- 
dary laws explain this. 

The Primary Law Stated. — The following is the 
statement for the primary law of association: When 
two or more things have heen held in consciousness at the 
same time or in close succession and one is afterward 
presented, it is the tendency for the other or others to 
come into consciousness. 

The Secondary Laws Stated.— The secondary laws 
are five in number and are as follows: 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 99 

1. The law of correlation: Those things held to- 
gether in consciousness with the most essential likeness 
are, other things equal, the most strongly associated. 

2. The law of repetition: Those things held to- 
gether in consciousness the most frequently are, other 
things equal, the most strongly associated. 

3. The law of emotional preference: Those 
things held together in consciousness with the highest 
degree of feeling are, other things equal, the most strong- 
ly associated. 

4. The law of voluntary attention: Those things 
held together in consciousness with the highest degree of 
attention are, other things equal, the most strongly 
associated. 

5. The law of recentness: Those things held 
together in consciousness the most recently are, other 
things equal, the most strongly associated. 

The law of correlation may be illustrated as fol- 
lows: if Bonaparte and Alexander have been asso- 
ciated at one time, and Bonaparte and Newton at 
another time, when Bonaparte comes into mind, 
according to the law of correlation, Alexander would 
come to mind in preference to Newton. This would 
be true, because there are more essential likenesses 
between Bonaparte and Alexander than there are 
between Bonaparte and Newton. 

The law of repetition may be illustrated as fol- 
lows: if the Declaration of Independence and Thomas 
Jefferson have been held together in consciousness 



L.of 



100 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

more often than the Louisiana Purchase and Thomas 
Jefferson, when Thomas Jefferson comes into con- 
sciousness the Declaration of Independence will 
appear in preference to the Louisiana Purchase. 

The following will illustrate the law of emotional 
preference: a boy was crossing a bridge on horseback, 
when a broken board flew up at one end because of 
the horse's stepping upon it at the other end. The 
horse becoming frightened at this jumped and fell at 
full length off the end of the bridge into the mud and 
water some eight or ten feet below. Now when this 
boy sees a broken board in a bridge, he thinks of 
this incident in preference to other things, because 
of the high degree of feeling connected with it. 

The following illustrates the law of voluntary 
attention: if a friend walks past one holding a vase in 
his hand and one gives him careful attention on one 
day and on a second day the same friend carrying a 
book passes one and is given only slight attention, 
when the friend comes into consciousness the vase will 
appear in consciousness in preference to the book. 

The illustration of the law of recentness is as 
follows: if one has recently been reading of the 
numerous dogs of Constantinople, and before this 
has read the Mohammedan's call to prayer, accord- 
ing to the law of recentness, when Constantinople 
comes into consciousness its numerous dogs will 
appear in consciousness in preference to the call to 
prayer. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 101 

Imagination, — The mind has the ability of getting 
ideas and then of putting these ideas into mental 
images, or pictures. If one tells you to shut your 
eyes and look at the following described apple with 
the mind's eye, the process of forming the picture of 
it is imagining: 

A large dark-red apple, three inches in diameter, 
almost spherical, with a rotten spot as large as a 
finger nail on one side, and a worm hole on the oppo- 
site side, is lying on a platter sitting on a stand in the 
center of a room. 

The pictures formed by the imagination may be 
almost like objects which have been seen or they may 
be almost entirely changed; that is, highly idealized. 
It makes no difference how much they are idealized 
the imagination still depends upon the memory for 
the material for its images. The Ancients imagined 
a huge dog, Cerberus, with three immense heads, 
whose body bristled with snakes in the place of 
hairs, and whose barking resembled peals of thunder, 
as the guardian of Hades. There is nothing new in 
this picture but the combination. They were familiar 
with dogs, heads, snakes, and peals of thunder. The 
only new thing is the combination. What is true of 
this case is true of all cases of imagination. Imagi- 
nation is thus dependent upon sense-perception and 
memory for the material which it builds into its 
images. The image made by imagination is always a 
particular thing; that is, the mind regards it as 
separate from all other things. 



102 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

From the foregoing the definition of imagination 
is as follows : Imagination is the mental process of em- 
bodying an idea in a particular form^ or image. 

The Advance in Development of Imagination over 
Memory. — If one should study a vase for one hour and 
then go to another room and attempt to draw it, he 
would find many places which he would not quite 
remember. Imagination enables one to fill out these 
places in a picture where memory fails him. Thus 
imagination fills up the discrepancies of memory. 

Sense-perception confines the mind strictly to 
the present time; memory enables the mind to know 
past time, but it is only the imagination which en- 
ables the mind to know future time and to project 
itself into the future. This enables the mind to set 
up ideals and to plan for the future. 

The integrity of the act of memory depends up- 
on the accuracy of the reproduction. Thus the mind 
regards itself as remembering well or poorly accord- 
ingly as it reproduces accurately or inaccurately. 
This is not the case with the imagination. In acts of 
imagination the mind knows its freedom in changing 
or idealizing. The imagination is thus a much freer 
activity of the mind than memory. 

These three advances of imagination in develop- 
ment over memory may be summed up as follows: 

1. The imagination fills out the incompleteness 
in acts of memory and thus enables the mind to think 
of objects as complete wholes. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 103 

2. The imagination enables the mind to grasp 
future time and thus to project itself into the future. 

3. The imagination is much freer than memory 
In its idealizing activity. 

Classes of Imagination. — On the basis of develop- 
ment there are three classes of imagination: repro- 
ductive, mechanical, and creative. 

Reproductive imagination is the least developed 
kind of imagination. It is but a small advance in 
development over memory. If one should study a 
tree on the lawn for an hour, then go to his room and 
draw it the image produced would be as nearly literal 
as possible; that is, as nearly an accurate represen- 
tation of the tree as possible. The kind of imagina- 
tion employed would be the reproductive. 

The definition is as follows: Reproductive im- 
agination is that kind of imagination tvhich forms 
images as nearly literal as possible. 

The mechanical imagination is the next higher 
kind. It is that kind of imagination which makes 
images by arbitrarily separating or combining parts 
of images of the reproductive imagination. If the 
wings of birds are combined with the forms of cows, 
the image is the result of the mechanical imagination, 
or if the head of a man is imaged floating through 
space, it is the work of the mechanical imagination. 

The following is the definition: Mechanical im- 
agination is that kind of imagination which forms 



104 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

images by arbitrarily separating or putting together 
images of the reproductive imagination. 

The creative imagination is the highest kind. It 
is also called constructive ^ inventive, and scientific 
imagination. In this kind of imagination the mind 
fashions the material which it builds into an image to 
suit its purpose. It is the kind used in all the crea- 
tions of man, as a bridge, a bicycle, an automobile, a 
house, a poem, etc. It is purposive to a high degree. 
The entire image in this kind of imagination is a 
product highly idealized and made up of smaller 
images which have also been idealized to suit the 
mind's purpose. 

The definition is as follows: Creatiye imagi- 
nation is that kind of imagination which builds up com- 
plex images made by adapting the images of reproductive 
and mechanical imagination. 

Conception. — In order to know any object the 
mind must see it in both its particular and universal 
aspects — must see what distinguishes it from all 
other things and also what connects it with other 
things. Some of the stages of knowing emphasize 
one aspect of objects and some the other. Thus 
in sense-perception, memory, and imagination the 
mind emphasizes the particular aspects of objects, 
but in conception, definition, judgment, reasoning, and 
systematization the mind emphasizes the universal 
aspects of objects. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 105' 

Sense-perception, memory, and imagination deal 
with particular ideas. Conception, too, deals with an 
idea, but not a particular idea. It deals with what is 
called a general idea, or general notion. But what 
is a general idea, or notion? If one should set out to 
examine triangles, he would find that every triangle: 
1. Is a polygon. 2. Has just three sides. 3. Has 
just three angles. He would also find that each one 
has several attributes not found in all the others, and 
that each one has some attributes not found in any of 
the others. These last two kinds of attributes are 
necessary to the triangle, but do not enter into the 
general idea of the triangle. The general idea> 
triangle, is made up of ideas, one, two, and three aibove. 
That is to say, it is made up of those attributes that 
could be found in any triangle. The following is the 
definition for a general idea: 

A general idea is an idea which corresponds to the 
common attributes of a class of objects. 

The terms, concept, general idea, and general 
notion, all have the same meaning. This should be 
remembered. The process in which concepts are 
formed is conception, and the definition is as follows: 

Conception is the mind^s process of forming an idea 
which corresponds to the common attributes of a class of 
objects. 

Method of Forming Concepts in Actual Life. — In 
actual life concepts are formed as follows: first, the 
mind perceives an object of a class for the first time 



106 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

and gets a sort of tentative concept which usually 
contains attributes not possessed by all the objects of 
the class; secondly, the mind perceives other objects 
of this kind and begins to drop from the concept any 
attributes which are not common and perhaps to add 
some common attributes not at first perceived; this 
process of changing the concept because of further 
experience is continued until just those attributes 
which belong to every object of the class remain. 

Illustration. — The mind naturally gets its general 
Ideas from the study of particulars. Suppose the 
first barn a child sees is a square one, painted red, 
with roof sloping but one way, and containing only 
hay and corn. From this particular the mind's idea 
of barn will contain square form, red color^ this par- 
ticular kind of roof, and filled ivith hay and corn. To 
be brief, the mind from the study of particulars goes 
on correcting its idea of barn by dropping out 
elements, and possibly adding some, until just those 
attributes remain which are possessed in common by 
barns. 

This is the way the mind naturally gets its con- 
cepts in life. When it examines the first particular, 
it forms a tentative, or trial, concept. But it goes on 
and examines other particulars to correct this ten- 
tative concept. It should be noted carefully that the 
mind naturally examines the real, particular object 
of which it forms its concepts. 

The Logical Steps in Conception. — The following 
are the logical steps in an act of conception: 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 107 

1. The mind acts an activity appropriate to a 
particular object by thinking several of its attributes. 

2. The mind repeats this process with other 
similar objects. 

3. The mind compares and contrasts these ob- 
jects. 

4. The mind abstracts the common attributes 
by holding them in consciousness and dropping more 
or less from consciousness the others. 

5. The mind generalizes by extending the com- 
mon attributes of the particulars studied out to all 
objects of the class. 

6. The mind thinks the name of the class. 

The first two steps may be put together, thus 
making but five steps as follows: (1) the examination 
of particulars; (2) comparison and contrast; (3) ab- 
straction; (4) generalization; (5) denomination. 

The Asjoects of the Concept. — The concept has two 
aspects: intension^ and extension, or intent and extent. 

When the mind thinks the general idea, triangle, 
it thinks the common attributes which make up the 
idea, but it also thinks of the particular objects to 
which the concept applies. In the first case the mind 
is thinking of the intension, intent, or content — these 
terms all have the same meaning — of the concept. 
In the second case the mind is thinking of the ex- 
tension, or extent, of the concept. The following are 
statements for these two aspects of the concept: 
The intension of a concept is that aspect of the concept 



108 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

which refers to the number of common attributes in it. 
The extension of a concept is that aspect of the concept 
which refers to the number of particular objects to ivhich 
it applies. 

Definition. — The popular notion of definition is 
that it is some sort of formal statement, either oral 
or written, to be learned and remembered. But 
definition in its essential nature is a mental process, 
and sufiiciently distinct to be regarded a stage in the 
development of knoiuing. 

An examination of how the mind naturally forms 
a definition will reveal the nature of the process. 

Let the thing to be defined be the triangle. The 
mind examines a particular triangle, noting its at- 
tributes; then it examines a second triangle, noting 
its attributes; then a third, and so on. The mind 
compares these various particular triangles and 
selects out their common attributes. It finds them 
as follows: 

1. The triangle is a polygon. 

2. It has three sides. 

3. It has three angles. 

The mind now makes a synthesis of these com- 
mon truths of triangles in the form of a thought, 
which gives the following: A triangle is a polygon 
having three sides and three angles. This, it is evident, 
is a definition of the triangle, and the mind's process 
of arriving at this mental product is the mental 
process of definition. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 109 

From the above the following definition of defini- 
tion is reached: 

Definition is the mind^s process of making a syn- 
thesis of the common attributes of a class of objects in the 
form of a thought. 

For instance, the mind examines several par- 
ticular nouns in sentences, and sees the following 
truths of each one: 

1. It is a substantive word. 

2. It names the object which it expresses. 

The mind makes a synthesis of these truths as 
follows: A noun is a substantive luord which names its 
object. But this defines the noun. 

In making a definition the mind takes the follow- 
ing steps: 

1. It thinks the name of the thing to be defined. 

2. It puts the thing to be defined in the next larger 
known class. 

3. It sets the thing to be defined off from all other things 
of this class. 

For instance, in the definition of the sentence, 
*^The sentence is that language unit which expresses a 
thought,^* ^^The sentence'^ names what is to be defined; 
^Hs that language unif* puts the thing to be defined 
into the class, language units, the next known class 
larger than the sentence; and ^^ which expresses a 
thought" sets the sentence off from the other things 
of the class, the ivord and discourse. 

The thing defined is always a class. When the 
mind defines a prism, the definition is not for some 



110 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

particular prism, but it is for the class, prism. Thus, 
a definition must include all the particulars of the 
class to be defined. • That is to say, it must be in- 
clusive. The definition must also exclude everything 
except the particulars of the class defined; that is, it 
must be exclusive. 

The mind's natural mode of defining is thus as 
follows: 

V. The mind examines particular objects of the 
class to be defined. 

2\ The mind selects out the common attributes 
of these particular objects. 

3^ The mind makes a synthesis of these com- 
mon attributes in the form of a thought by: 

V. Thinking the name of the class to be 
defined. 

2^ Putting the thing to be defined into the 
next larger known class. 

3^ Setting the thing to be defined off from all 
other things of that class. 

Laws of Definition. — Thus to guide in making 
definitions the following laws may be formulated: 

1. Name the thing to he defined. 

2. Put the thing to he defined into the next larger 
known class. 

3. Set the thing to he defined off from all other 
things of tJiat class. 

Judgment. — The mind gets particular ideas 
through sense-perception, and general ideas through 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. Ill 

ccnception. In judgment the mind grasps and em- 
phasizes the relation between ideas. For example, 
the mind of man had an idea, coal^ and the idea, fuely 
for years before it ever grasped the relation between, 
those ideas. When at last it did, it asserted that coal 
is a fuel This process of grasping the relation be- 
tween the idea, coal^ and the idea, fuel^ and asserting 
it is the mind's process of judging. Thus the defini- 
tion of judgment is as follows: 

Judgment is the mincfs process of grasping the 
relation between ideas and asserting it. 

The product of an act of sense-perception is a 
percept; of an act of conception, a concept; of an act of 
definition, a definition; of an act of judgment, a judg- 
ment. 

Every judgment is expressed by a sentence, if 
expressed at all. Thus the sentence is the symbol of 
the judgment. It is commonly said that the sentence 
expresses the thought^ and this is right, because the 
thought and the judgment mean precisely the same 
thing. 

The sentence, then, bears the relation to the 
judgment of the symbol to the thing symbolized. And 
the judgment bears the relation to the sentence of the 
thing symbolized to the symbol. 

The act of judging is a triple activity of the mind; 
that is, a one act made up of three. The following 
are the steps in judging: 

1. The mind acts some idea. 



112 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

2. The mind acts a second idea related to the 
first. 

3. The mind grasps and asserts the relation be- 
tween these ideas. 

The Elements of the Judgment. — Since there are 
three activities in making every judgment, there 
are three essential elements in every judgment: the 
'psychical subject, the psychical predicate, and the psy- 
chical copula. The following are definitions for them: 

The psychical subject is the idea of the object about 
which something is asserted. 

The psychical predicate is the idea of that which 
is asserted about the object of which the subject of the 
judgment is the idea. 

The psychical copula is the idea of the relation 
J)etween the subject of the judgment and the predicate of 
the judgment. 

The Two Aspects of Judgments. — Judgments have 
two aspects: intension and extension. The inten- 
sion and extension of judgments are not so much 
two separate things as the two different aspects of 
the same thing. Thus every judgment is at one time 
both a judgment of intension and extension. If the 
mind thinks man is an animal, it may refer the sub- 
ject, the idea, man, to the predicate, the idea, animal, 
with the idea of extending or universalizing the 
subject, for animal is a larger class than man. In 
this case the judgment is one of extension. But if the 
mind refers the predicate, ths idea, animal, to the sub- 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 113 

ject, the idea, man, with the idea of enriching the 
subject in meaning by adding the element of animal 
to it, the judgment is one of intension. 

Reasoning. — In judgment the mind emphasizes 
the relation between ideas. In reasoning it empha- 
sizes the relation among judgments. In every act of 
reasoning there are three judgments involved, so 
related that the last is reached because of its relation 
to the other two. Thus having the two judgments, 
^ ^ Man is mortal, ^^ and ^^ William is a man," the mind 
reaches the third judgment, ^^ William is mortal,'^ and 
this process of the mind is reasoning. The definition 
is as follows: 

Reasoning is the mincVs process of reaching a judg- 
ment because of its relation to tivo preceding judgments. 

The Classes of Reasoning. — There are different 
classes of reasoning depending upon the basis chosen. 
Often the mind produces a judgment when it is not 
at all conscious that this judgment is reached be- 
cause of its relation to two preceding judgments, but 
an analysis always shows that the two preceding 
judgments are implied, though not in consciousness. 
Thus there are two kinds of reasoning from the 
standpoint of whether all three of the judgments are 
in consciousness. Thus when the mind thinks This 
day is rainy, it has as a rule, in consciousness only 
this one judgment. An analysis shows that the two 
judgments, rainy days have certain characteristics; and 
this day has these characteristics; are implied, however. 



114 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Then again, the mind in reasoning examines par- 
ticular objects and reasons that what is true of these 
is true of the whole class; that is, it goes from the 
examination of particulars to a general truth. Also 
the mind may start with a general truth and reason 
that what is true of the whole class must be true of 
the particular objects of that class. Thus from the 
standpoint of whether the mind goes from particulars 
to the general or from the general to particulars 
there are two classes of reasoning. 

Implicit and Explicit Reasoning, — On the basis of 
whether the mind has in consciousness all three 
judgments there are two classes of reasoning: im- 
plicit^ and explicit. 

Implicit reasoning is the kind of reasoning in 
which one or more of the judgments are not in conscious- 
ness. 

Explicit reasoning is the kind of reasoning in 
which the mind has all the judgments in consciousness. 

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning. — On the basis 
of whether the mind goes from the particular to the 
general or from the general to the particular there 
are two classes of reasoning: inductive and deductive. 

Inductive reasoning is that kind of reasoning in 
which the mind goes from truths of particular objects to 
general truths. 

Ex. — This object is an animal. 

This object has voluntary motion. 
Animals have voluntary motion. 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 115 

Deductive reasoning is that kind of reasoning in 
which the mind goes from general truths to truths of 
particular objects. 

Ex. — Animals have voluntary motion. 
This object is an animal. 
This object has voluntary motion. 

The Syllogism. — In every act of reasoning there 
are three judgments, or propositions. These three 
judgments, or propositions, taken together are called 
the syllogism. Thus the syllogism may be characterized 
as follows: 

The syllogism is the formal act of reasoning con- 
sisting of three judgments, or propositions. 

Of the three judgments which compose the syllo- 
gism the first two are called the premises, diXidi the last 
one, the conclusion. 

There are in each syllogism also three terms: the 
major term, the minor term, and the middle term. These 
may be known from their position in the judgments. 
The predicate of the conclusion is invariably the major 
term; the subject of the conclusion, the minor term, 
and the term found in both the premises but not 
found in the conclusion is the middle term. 

The premises are called major or minor depend- 
ing upon which term is found in them, the major 
term being always found in the major premise, and 
the minor term, in the minor premise. 

Thus in the syllogism, — 
This object is an animal. 



116 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

This object has voluntary motion. 

Animals have voluntary motion. 
*'have voluntary motion" is the major term; *' Ani- 
mals" is the minor term; and '^This object" is the 
middle term. Also, "Animals have voluntary motion" 
is the conclusion. "This object has voluntary mo- 
tion" is the major premise, and "This object is an 
animal" is the minor premise. 

The arrangement of the judgments in a certain 
order is called a figure of the syllogism. There are 
said to be three figures of the syllogism, as follows: 

I. 

Animals have voluntary motion. 

This object is an animal. 

This object has voluntary motion. 

II. 
Animals have voluntary motion. 
This object has voluntary motion. 
This object is an animal. 

III. 
This object is an animal. 
This object has voluntary motion. 
Animals have voluntary motion. 

The first figure of the syllogism is employed by 
the mind in deduction; the second, in identiJiGation; and 
the third, in induction. 

Systematization. — In judgment the mind grasps 
the relation betv^een ideas; in reasoning, betvreen 
judgments; and in systematization, between complete 
acts of reasoning. Thus by systematization the 



THE MENTAL NATURE OF THE CHILD. 117 

mind connects all the truths of plant life into a com- 
plete system — the science of botany; also, all the 
truths of animal life into the science, zoology. 

Systematization is the mind^s process of grasping 
the relation between complete acts of reasoning. 

Intuition. — To know any object completely is to 
know it in both its particular and universal aspects; 
that is, (1) to know it as distinct from other objects, 
(2) as connected with other objects. 

In the stages in the development of knowing 
from sense-perception to imagination, inclusive, the 
mind emphasizes the particular aspects of known 
objects; but in the development of knowing from 
conception to systematization, inclusive, the mind em- 
phasizes the universal aspects of objects. Thus in no 
stage of knowing from sense-perception to systema- 
tization does the mind grasp an object with equal 
emphasis upon both its particular and universal 
aspects. This it does in the highest stage of know- 
ing, intuition. Intuition in its fuUness is thus 
knowing an object completely, and is thus the end of 
the development of knowing. It may be defined as 
follows: 

Intuition is the mincVs pi^ocess of implicitly grasp- 
ing an object ivith equal emphasis upon both its particular 
and universal aspects. 

Intuition is rational insight. 

The Distinguishing Element in the Stages of Knoio- 
ing. — By the distinguishing element in the stages of 



118 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

knowing is meant that element which makes any 
stage different from any other stage, and by which 
any stage may be known. 

The distinguishing element in sense-perception 
is the interpreting the sensations; in memory, the iden- 
tifying activity; in imagination, the free imaging activ- 
ity of the mind; in conception, the grasping the class 
common attributes; in definition, the synthesis of the 
common truths of a class; in judgment, the grasping the 
relation between ideas; in reasoning, the grasping 
the relation between judgments; in systematization, the 
grasping the relation among complete acts of reasoning; 
in intuition, the equality of emphasis on both aspects of 
an object, the particular and universal. 

The Advance in the Stages of Knotoing. — The sen- 
sation in itself is an isolated thing. In sense-percep- 
tion the mind relates the sensations and grasps the 
likeness and difference between them. Its advance 
over the sensation is in grasjying the relation between 
the sensations. In original sense-perception, the least 
developed kind, the mind interprets the sensations 
from only one sense, that one which was evidently 
designed to give sensations of one particular kind. 
In the acquired sense-perception, the most developed 
kind, more than one sense is involved, and thus more 
relations are grasped and the process is more com- 
plex — more developed. 

In memory, the second stage of knowing, the 
mind grasps more time and place relations than in 



THE MENTAL NATURE OP THE CHILD. 119 

sense-perception. In sense-perception the mind can 
deal with only present, in time and space, objects. 
Thus it is a great advance to be able to think of objects 
not present in either time or space. 

Recognition, the lowest kind of memory, is a 
very small advance over sense-perception, merely 
Tnore time relations grasped. 

Remembrance of the particular is an advance 
over recognition in that the object is never present — 
TYiore place relations grasped. 

In remembrance of the general the mind ad- 
vances to the grasping of general relations. The mind 
deals with particular ideas in both recognition and 
remembrance of the particular, but with a general 
idea in remembrance of the general. 

In recollection, the highest kind of memory, the 
advance is in the effort of the will involved and in the 
graspi/ng more relations in the attempt to get hold of 
some associated line to suggest the missing element. 

In imagination the mind advances over memory 
(1) in grasping more time relations; (2) in filling out 
the discrepancies of memory in its effort to remember 
a thing completely; and (3) in the freedom of the ac- 
tivity. 

In reproductive imagination, the least developed 
kind, the mind advances just a little beyond memory. 
The advance is mainly that of supplying the discrep- 
ancies of memory. 



120 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

In mechanical imagination the advance over the 
reproductive is the greater freedom of the idealizing 
activity. 

In the creative imagination the advance is in the 
greater number of relations grasped because of the 
freedom of the ideaUzing activity of the mind. 

The advance of conception over the stages of 
knowing below it is that of shifting the mind's em- 
phasis from the particular to the class common attributes 
of objects. Sense-perception and imagination, the 
idea-forming stages of knowing below conception, 
give particular ideas; conception, also an idea- forming 
stage of knowing, advances to the general idea. 

The advance in definition over conception is 
found in the mind's effort to make explicit what it 
only vaguely grasps in conception — the distinct sepa- 
ration of the different classes of things. 

The advance in judgment is in grasping and em- 
phasizing the relation between ideas of any kind what- 
ever; that is, in reaching out for more relations. 

The advance in reasoning is grasping the relation 
J)etween entire judgments, a further broadening of the 
relations grasped. 

The advance of systematization over reasoning is 
in grasping the relations among complete acts of reason- 
ing. 

In intuition the advance is in the equal emphasis 
of the mind in grasping an object in both its universal 
and particular aspects. This is the most complete 



THE MENTAL. NATURE OF THE CHILD. 121:. 

knowing of an object and with it the development of: 
knowing ends. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 



Meaning of the Term. — The curriculum is the 
school course of study. It is made up of the various 
subjects studied in school. Thus in the primary, or 
common, school the curriculum consists of reading, 
writing, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, primary 
language, history, geography, physiology, and in 
some places music, and drawing. In the secondary, 
or high, school it usually consists of algebra, and 
geometry; Latin, composition, rhetoric, and literature; 
botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, geology, and 
astronomy; ancient history, mediaeval history, and 
modern history; drawing, and music. 

It is easily seen that the school curriculum is not 
a fixed thing, but that it changes from time to time. 
The subjects in the school curriculum taken as a 
whole divide themselves into groups. There are at 
any rate the following groups: 

1. The language group consisting of reading, 
writing, spelling, language, composition, rhetoric, 
grammar, Latin, literature, German, French, etc. 

2. The mathematical group consisting of arith- 
metic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc. 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 123 

3. The natural science group consisting of physi- 
ology, geography, botany, zoology, psychology, chem- 
istry, physics, astronomy, geology, etc. 

4. The history grouj) consisting of ancient 
history, mediaeval history, and modern history. 

5. The art group consisting of drawing, and 
music, at the least. 

6. The 2^'i^of^ssional group consisting of psy- 
chology, methodology, paidology, etc. 

Origin of the Curriculum. — The function of the 
school is to educate the child. But the child must 
have something to study that he may get knowledge 
and discipline in the process of education. Thus 
there are two aspects of the thought which originated 
the school curriculum: the idea of getting useful 
knowledge, and the idea of getting mental discipline. 

The foremost one of these ideas was the need for 
useful knowledge. So it may be said that the first 
felt-need which w^as instrumental in originating the 
school curriculum was the felt-need for useful knowl- 
edge. And by useful knowledge is meant knowledge 
which furnishes one guidance in right living. 

The second felt-need which was instrumental in 
originating the school curriculum was the felt-need 
for discipline; that is, for mental exercise to the end 
of health and growth. It was recognized that the 
mind must have exercise to maintain its health, and 
also to grow. 



124 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The curriculum at one time consisted of nothing 
more than reading, "writing, spelhng, and arithmetic. 
It was called the ''three r's, " when it was thus sim- 
ple, — "readin, ritin, rithmetic, " spelling being in- 
cluded in "ritin." 

There was a need for some subject in the 
curriculum the study of which would make the 
children skillful in the two following things: 

1. Getting thought and feeling from pieces of 
discourse. 

2. Communicating this thought and feeling 
orally in the author's own words. 

This need was the origin of reading as a subject 
in the school curriculum. And the purpose of read- 
ing in the school course is to satisfy this need. 

Again there was a need for something in the 
school course which would make the children skillful 
in the art of making the correct written forms by 
means of which thought and feeling are commu- 
nicated. This need was the origin of spelling and 
writing in the curriculum. And the purpose of 
spelling and writing in the school course is to satisfy 
this need. 

In dealing with the world of objects the mind 
needed to be skillful in measuring them. In carrying 
on business transactions the things exchanged had to 
be measured, and skill was needed. So there was a 
need for some subject in the school course the study 
of which would give the children skill in measuring. 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 125 

This need brought arithmetic into the school cur- 
riculum, and was thus its origin. And the purpose 
of arithmetic in the schools is to make the children 
skillful in measuring. 

In a similar way we could trace out the origin of 
every study in the school curriculum, but it will 
probably be more helpful to do that under the head 
of- 

The Groivth of the Cui'riculum. — As stated above 
the school curriculum of the primary, or common, 
school, at one time consisted barely of reading, writ- 
ing, spelling, and arithmetic. But it has not remained 
so. Many new subjects have been added. That is to 
say, the school curriculum has grown. 

It is interesting to trace out the ideas which 
brought the subjects into the school curriculum as it 
grew, and to compare those ideas with what these 
subjects actually do for those who study them. That 
is, to see whether these subjects have realized in the 
lives of the children the things which they were 
expected to realize. 

It was seen that some subject needed to be in the 
school curriculum whose study would give the pupils 
the habit of using good language in communicating 
their thoughts and feelings. So grammar was added 
to satisfy this need, and for a long time it was ex- 
pected that the study of grammar would actually 
give the pupils the habit of using good language in 
writing and speaking. Finally it became evident that 



126 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

grammar was not doing this well enough. The need 
for some subject to do this was still strongly felt. So 
the next attempt to satisfy this need brought primary 
language as a subject into the curriculum. 

The question whether language lessons as usually 
taught will satisfy this want suggests itself. 

It was also felt that, since so much of life's suc- 
cess and happiness depends upon the health of the 
physical being, something ought to be added to 
the curriculum, the study of which would give knowl- 
edge valuable for guidance in maintaining the health 
of the body. Thus physiology and hygiene were 
added to the school curriculum to satisfy this want. 
Man learns by experience and by example; that 
is, by his own experiences and by the experiences of 
others. He must depend upon the experiences of the 
race for a large part of his knowledge. These ex- 
periences of the race have been preserved in recorded 
history; and these experiences thus recorded are the 
heritage left by the race to humanity. 

There was felt a need for some subject in the 
school curriculum the study of which would bring 
the child into possession of the thought and feeling 
of the race as manifested in history, and this need 
caused history to be added to the school curriculum- 
Life of all kinds is very dependent. Plant life 
depends upon heat, light, and moisture; animal life 
of all kinds is dependent upon plant life and other 
animal life; and the human being is dependent upon 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 127 

all these things along with his dependence upon his 
fellow men. This mutual dependence of life, veg- 
etable, animal, and human upon one another, and 
upon heat, light, and moisture has led to the wide 
distribution of life over the surface of the earth. 

There was a need felt for some subject whose 
study would give the child a knowledge of the mutual 
distribution of heat, light, moisture, relief forms^ 
plant life, animal life, and human life on the surface 
of the earth. Geography was added to the school 
curriculum to satisfy this want, and this was the 
origin of geography in the curriculum. 

Enriching the Curriculum. — Within recent years 
there has been much discussion on enriching the 
school curriculum of the primary school. By en- 
riching it, is meant the addition of new subjects to it 
and the bringing down some subjects which were 
formerly taught only in the advanced grades to the 
lower grades. 

In line with this thought literature^ music^ draiv- 
ing, and nature study have been introduced into 
many primary school curricula, and history, ge- 
ography, etc. have been placed in the work of the first, 
second, third, and fourth years. 

The main purpose in making this change has 
been to make a school curriculum better adapted to 
the child's mental development in the first three or 
four years of his school life than the one composed 
almost wholly of reading, writing, spelling, and 



"128 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

arithmetic. It was thought that the first work of 
the child in school was not well adapted to his stage 
of physical and mental development, and that, there- 
fore, was not of a character to arouse an enduring, 
drawing interest in school work. So the need for 
work more interesting to the child than the formal 
work in reading, writing, spelling, and number, is 
largely the thing which has produced these changes 
in the curriculum. 

A Rational Curriculum. — The school curriculum 
lias been criticised on the ground that it is not ra- 
tional; that is, it is not reasonable. The question, 
What is a rational school curriculum? at once suggests 
itself. Let us study this question systematically for 
4a time. 

All would no doubt agree that that school cur- 
ricTilum is the most reasonable which is best adapted 
to the needs of the learner's life. And all would also 
^gree that that school curriculum which wastes the 
learner's time and breaks down his health is not a 
reasonable one. Then if in some way it can be de- 
termined what school curriculum is best adapted to 
the learner's life, it may be known what a rational 
school curriculum is. 

In order to proceed in a systematic study of the 
curriculum it is necessary to rethink the purpose of 
the educating process. 

The Purpose of Education. — Herbert Spencer, it 
"iRdU be remembered, says the purpose of education 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 129 

is complete living. And there is unanimity of opinion 
among thinking people everywhere on this point. 
Certainly any work in the educating process is to be 
regarded as good or poor accordingly as it helps 
much or little in right living. The evidence that 
people generally estimate the value of any subject in 
the school curriculum in terms of living is, that when 
any one wants to show the value of any school sub- 
ject, he attempts to show how it helps in life. Thus 
the teacher of French, when he wishes to show the 
value of the study of French, always does it in terms 
of life; the German teacher, and the Latin teacher 
endeavor to show the use of German and Latin in 
living. 

It was previously seen that "complete living** 
means the following: 1. Treating the body right, 
2. Treating the mind right. 3. Managing one's 
business right. 4. Rearing a family right. 5. 
Behaving right as a citizen. 6. Spending one's 
leisure time right. 

The Test. — The only rational mode of judging the 
value of any school curriculum is to judge to what 
degree it discharges the function of preparing for 
right living. The test is as follows: Any subject is 
valuable in the school curriculum just to the degree to 
which it helps in right living. 

The First Step in Applying the Test. — The first step 
in applying this test to the school curriculum is to 
classify f in order of importance^ the lines of activity 



130 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

ivhich make up human life. These are as follows: 1. 
Those activities put forth in direct self-preservation. 
2. Those activities put forth in indirect self-preser- 
vation. 3. Those activities put forth in rearing a 
family. 4. Those activities put forth in performing 
the duties of citizenship. 5. Those activities put 
forth in spending one's leisure time. 

The Order of Importance of These Lines. — A little 
study shows that these lines of activities have been 
arranged in the order of decreasing importance. The 
activities put forth in direct self-preservation — those 
in getting out of the way of objects which would in- 
jure, avoiding danger, eating, drinking, protecting 
ourselves, etc. — are first in importance. If one were 
as ignorant as an infant of his environment, he would 
lose his life in less than a day, unless he had some 
one to care for him. And, since absolute ignorance 
of all other things would not bring death so quickly, 
those activities spent in direct self-preservation and 
that knowledge which furnishes guidance for these 
activities are of foremost importance. 

The activities spent in indirect self-preservation — 
those activities in securing food, clothing, and shelter 
— are second in importance. That these activities 
precede in importance those put forth in rearing 
families may be seen from the fact that self- main- 
tenance makes possible those activities employed in 
rearing families. Without self -maintenance first 
there could be no family life. Thus the activities put 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 131 

forth in indirect self-preservation are second in im- 
portance only to those needful in direct self-preser- 
vation. 

No social life would be possible without the 
family. The family is the most fundamental social 
institution, and the rearing of children alone makes 
possible the church, state, etc. Then those activities 
employed in bringing up children are more important 
than those spent in performing the duties of citizen- 
ship. 

Again the goodness of society as a whole depends 
upon the goodness of those individuals who compose 
it, and the quality of the individuals depends largely 
upon the family training. Therefore those activities 
put forth in rearing a family are third in importance. 

Fourth in importance are those activities put 
forth in fulfilling one's duties as a citizen. This ap- 
pears from the fact that of all the lines of activities 
making up life, those used in spending leisure time 
could be best left out of life. Also, the various forms 
of pleasurable activities which fill up leisure hours 
presuppose social institutions. No great degree of 
development of these pleasurable occupations is 
possible without well established social institutions. 

Fifth and last in the lines of activities which 
make human life are the activities spent in leisure 
time. 

The Rational Order of Education. — From the fore- 
going, the following is seen to be the rational order 



132 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

of education: 1. That education which prepares for 
direct self-preservation. 2. That education which 
prepares for indirect self-preservation. 3. That 
education which prepares for parenthood, and the 
bringing up of a family. 4. That education which 
prepares one for the duties of citizenship. 5. That 
education which prepares for spending right one's 
leisure time. 

While there may be particular exceptions and 
modifications of this order in the lives of some indi- 
viduals, yet there remain these marked divisions, and 
they subordinate one another substantially as indi- 
cated. 

The Second Step in Applying the Test. — The second 
step in applying the test is to classify knowledge in 
the order of its importance. 

Not all knowledge is of equal value to the human 
race. Some may have a vital bearing upon all human 
life for all time; some may touch the lives of only a 
few for only a brief time; and some may be so re- 
motely related to human life as to have almost no 
bearing upon it. Accordingly knowledge has been 
classified as follows: 1. Knowledge of intrinsic 
value. 2. Knowledge of quasi-intrinsic value. 3. 
Knowledge of conventional value. 

Knowledge of intrinsic value is that knowledge 
'which bears upon the life of all mankind throughout 
all time. The knowledge that chlorine is a disin- 
fectant; that tuberculosis is a disease caused by a 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 133 

germ; that every thought or feeling one has burns 
away some of his brain material, and scientific knowl- 
edge in general, is knowledge of intrinsic value. 
These truths will have a bearing on human conduct 
for all time. 

The extra knowledge of the English language 
which the study of Greek and Latin gives is knowl- 
edge of quasi-intrinsic value. It has a value to a part 
of humanity for a part of time, but is not of value to 
all mankind for all time. 

Knowledge of conventional value is simply 
fashionable knowledge. Gossip, neighborhood and 
national, much of Greek and Latin taught in school, 
and some parts of history are knowledge of only con- 
ventional value. Much that is taught in the subjects 
above mentioned scarcely has the remotest bearing 
ui)on human activities. It is fashionable to learn 
such things, and so people go on studying them with- 
out ever having thought out what bearing they reaUy 
have on human life. 

Thus in estimating the value of knowledge, 
knowledge of intrinsic value is of first importance. 

The Value of Learning. — The process of learning 
is valuable from two points of view. First, knowledge 
is obtained which furnishes guidance in human con- 
duct. Secondly, the mind gets healthful exercise in 
its efforts to learn. The mind develops by exercise; 
that is, it learns to do by doing. The exercise of the 
mind to the end of maintaining its health, and develop- 



134 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

ing its strength is what is called mental discipline. 
Thus any learning has two values: 1. A knowledge- 
giving value. 2. A disciplinary value. 

Thoughts to Be Kept in Mind. — In the further 
study of the school curriculum, in order to system- 
atize the study, the following thoughts should be kept 
in mind: 

1. Life is divided into several lines of activity of 
decreasing importance. 

2. Knowledge is of three kinds according to its 
worth: a. Knowledge of intrinsic value, b. Knowl- 
edge of quasi-intrinsic value, c. Knowledge of 
conventional value. 

3. Learning always has two values: a. A 
knowledge-giving value, b. A disciplinary value. 

Disciplinary Value and Knowledge -giving Value 
Not Antagonistic. — There is an error current to a 
large extent that some subjects are needed in the 
school curriculum because they have an excellent 
disciplinary value, even though their study does not 
give knowledge of much use in guiding one in right 
living; and another aspect of the same error is, that 
some subjects are needed in the school curriculum 
because of the useful knowledge their pursuit gives, 
even though their study does not furnish good mental 
discipline. 

This error in its two aspects has entered entirely 
too largely into the considerations in making school 
curricula in the past. It is quite possible that those 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 135 

subjects whose pursuit gives knowledge the most 
useful for guidance in right living are the very same 
ones whose pursuit gives the best disciphne. And 
there is no lack of subjects to make a curriculum 
which will give the most valuable knowledge and at 
the same time give the very best discipline. Human 
life is too short to study one set of subjects for valu- 
able knowledge alone, and to study another set of 
subjects for discipline alone. 

In the solution of any educational problem hints 
usually may be had from nature. Everywhere in 
nature we find capacities developed by performing 
the functions which it is their office to perform, and 
not by some exercise artificially arranged to fit them 
for the performance of these duties. The hunter ac- 
quires the discipline which makes him a successful 
hunter only by the pursuit of game. The highest de- 
velopment of a j^ower alivays results from the exercise 
in the work which the conditions of life require of it. 

In the light of these truths, the acquisition which 
gives the most valuable knowledge must at the same time 
furnish the very best discipline. 

Making discipline almost the entire object in 
teaching ' 'is responsible for a sort of mediaeval dia- 
lectics and fruitless beating of the air in teaching 
which passes as superfine method. It is Fichte's 
idealism and subjectivity run mad." 

Direct Self-preservation. — The knowledge which 
gives guidance in direct self-preservation, too im- 



136 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

portant to be left to be taught in school, Nature has 
taken into her own hands to teach. She is teaching 
the child his daily lessons in direct self-preservation 
by means of the falls, bruises, scratches, cuts, burns, 
and pains which befall him every day in his early 
life. Mother Nature teaches the lesson well that, 
when any of the laws of life are violated, pain and 
misery are the inevitable result. 

Not being aware of all the safeguards which 
nature has furnished us, we often violate her laws. 
What subjects have we in the school curriculum 
whose pursuit will furnish knowledge for guidance 
in these activities? The answer to this question is, we 
have 'physiology and hygiene. The pursuit of these 
subjects gives the knowledge that one's physical 
sensations and desires — cold, heat, fatigue, hunger, 
thirst, etc. — are promptings which, if obeyed, would 
to a large extent provide for direct self-preservation. 
But so great an ignorance is there of the laws of life 
that men do not appreciate fully enough that the 
sensations are the natural guides in direct self-pres- 
ervation. 

Physiology and hygiene have it as their field of 
work to teach a better general knowledge of the laws 
of physical life and a fuller appreciation of the ne- 
cessity and momentous importance of their obedience. 

No one will doubt the value of physiology and 
hygiene in the school curriculum who will consider 
the pain, the weariness, the gloom, the waste of time 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 137" 

and money entailed, and ''how greatly ill-health 
hinders the discharge of all duties, makes business 
often impossible and always more difficult; produces 
an irritability fatal to the right management of chil- 
dren; puts the function of citizenship out of the 
question; and makes amusement a bore. Is it not 
clear that the physical sins, partly our forefathers' 
and partly our own, which produce this ill-heaithj 
deduct more from complete living than any thing 
else, and to a great extent make life a failure and a 
burden instead of a benefaction and a pleasure?" 

And it may further be added that the average 
length of human life is, by the violation of these 
physical laws, largely cut short. 

Physiology and hygiene may thus be seen to 
occupy a dignified and exalted position in the school 
curriculum. And this is a fact which should be seen 
and appreciated by every teacher that these sciences 
may be taught conscientiously and well. 

Indirect Self-preservation. — The knowledge which 
furnishes guidance in indirect self-preservation is 
that which guides in making a living — in obtaining 
food, clothing, and shelter. All persons are agreed 
upon the importance of such knowledge; and indeed^ 
by too many it is regarded as the sole or main object 
of education. While every one is agreed that knowl- 
edge which furnishes guidance in making a living is 
of high importance, yet few have systematically 
thought out just what knowledge will best do this. 



138 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

In order to study this question to the best ad- 
vantage, it is necessary to notice the main things in 
which men who work are employed. 

What Things Men Are Employed in. — The main 
lines in which men who work for a Hving are employed 
are as follows: 

1. The production of commodities. 

2. The preparation of commodities. 

3. The distribution of commodities. 

By the production of commodities is meant the 
production of corn, wheat, hay, oats, beef, pork, coal, 
iron, wool, flax, poultry, fruit, lumber, leather, silk, 
cotton, linen, hemp, and a large number of other 
similar things. 

The preparation of commodities means changing 
them into a fit condition for consumption, or use. It 
refers mainly to manufacturing; as the manufacture 
of machinery, food, clothing, etc. 

Distribution refers to sending such things to the 
points of consumption. 

Now, the question is. What knowledge gives 
the greatest guidance in these three lines of activities? 

It is evident that commodities could not be dis- 
tributed without a knowledge of reading, writing, 
spelling, and arithmetic. Distribution requires 
railroads, canals, bridges, docks, and the dredging of 
rivers; locomotives, cars, steamboats, and steam- 
ships. But the knowledge which guides in the 
construction of these is a knowledge of mathematics, 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 139 

physics, chemistry, and mechanics. Thus the knowl- 
edge which gives guidance in the distribution of 
commodities is, directly, mathematics, physics, 
chemistry, and mechanics; and indirectly, reading, 
writing, arithmetic, and spelling. 

That knowledge which guides in the preparation 
of commodities is, again, directly, a knowledge of 
chemistry, physics, mathematics, and mechanics; 
and indirectly, reading, writing, spelling, and arith- 
metic. 

That knowledge which gives guidance in the 
production of commodities is, directly, chemistry, 
physics, geology, zoology, botany, agriculture, horti- 
culture, and bacteriology; and indirectly, reading, 
writing, spelling, and arithmetic. 

Thus it is seen that subjects whose study 
furnishes knowledge which gives guidance in both 
direct and indirect self-preservation directly are al- 
most wholly science subjects. 

The Bearing of a Family. — One is led to wonder, 
when he thinks of our school curriculum, whether 
this division of human activities is to be considered of 
so little importance that no systematic knowledge is 
needed to furnish guidance for them. 

"If by some strange chance not a vestige of us 
descended to the remote future save a pile of our 
school books or some college examination papers, we 
may imagine how puzzled an antiquary of the period 
would be on finding in them no indications that the 



140 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

learners were ever likely to be parents. 'This must 
have been the curriculum for their celibates,' we may 
fancy him concluding. *I perceive here an elaborate 
preparation for many things: especially for reading 
the books of extinct nations and coexisting nations — 
from which indeed it seems that these people had 
very little worth reading in their own tongue; but I 
find no reference whatever to the bringing up of 
children. They could not have been so absurd as to 
omit all training for this gravest of responsibilities. 
Evidently then, this was the school course of one of 
their monastic orders.' " 

There are however in the school curriculum 
physiology and hygiene whose pursuit will give 
knowledge which furnishes guidance in bringing up 
children, in so far as the laws of their bodies are 
concerned. But not enough emphasis is placed upon 
these subjects. The value of the knowledge furnished 
by their study has not yet been sufficiently appre- 
ciated. 

'To tens of thousands that are killed, add 
hundreds of thousands that survive with feeble con- 
stitutions, and millions that grow up with constitu- 
tions not as strong as they should be; and you will 
have some idea of the curse inflicted on their off- 
spring by parents ignorant of the laws of life." 

The child not only has a physical nature, but he 
has also a moral and intellectual nature. For guid- 
ance in the moral and intellectual training of children 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 141 

there is almost nothing in the average school cur- 
riculum whose study gives the requisite knowledge. 

Psychology and child study are the subjects 
ivhose pursuit gives the knowledge most valuable for 
guidance in these activities. But few schools have 
these subjects in their curricula at present, and 
probably will not for many years yet. 

"Be this as it may, however, here are the indis- 
putable facts: that the development of children in 
mind and body rigorously obeys certain laws; that 
unless these laws are in some degree conformed to 
hy parents, death is inevitable; that unless they are 
in a great degree conformed to, there must result 
serious physical and mental defects; and that only 
-when they are completely conformed to, can a per- 
fect maturity be reached." 

Man's Duties as a Citizen. — When one asks him- 
self what subjects there are in the school curriculum 
the pursuit of which furnishes guidance in one's 
duties as a citizen, his mind turns to history, for it 
has been asserted over and over again that the study 
of history makes good citizens. But when one stops 
to think whether history, as usually taught, does 
especially make good citizens, it does not seem very 
clear. 

It is safe to say that if history were properly 
taught, it would give a stock of knowledge valuable 
for guidance in citizenship. But in order that history 
may give this guidance it must not be taught merely 



142 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

as a record of events; neither must it be taught as 
isolated events^ nor must all the time of teaching be 
spent on the state as an institution of society. To 
accomplish this desired result history must be 
studied as the struggle of the race in its effort for higher 
life. This struggle must be seen to have been one in 
all the institutions of society — the family, the school, 
the church, industrial life, and the state. It must be 
seen, too, that in human action there is a seed-time, a 
period of growth, and a fruitage. 

But as history is often taught it certainly is 
worth little for guidance in citizenship. 

Literature, if well taught, is valuable for guidance 
in this line of activities. 

The best interpretation of both history and liter- 
ature requires a knowledge of psychology. This is 
evident from the following: If one knew absolutely 
nothing about the human mind, he could not interpret 
history or literature at all. And certainly one who 
has an organized, systematic knowledge of psychology 
will interpret better than one who has only a frag- 
mentary, unorganized knowledge of it. 

** Without an acquaintance with the general truths 
of biology and psychology, rational interpretation of 
social phenomena is impossible." "All social phe- 
nomena are phenomena of life — are ultimately de- 
pendent upon the laws of life — and can be understood 
only when the laws of life are understood. " 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 143: 

Sociology is the best subject in the school cur- 
riculum to furnish knowledge valuable for guidance 
in the duties of citizenship, and an understanding of 
sociology is absolutely dependent upon a knowledge 
of psychology. 

Thus, we see again that for knowledge to furnish 
guidance in this fourth division of human activities, 
we are largely dependent upon science. 

Spending Leisure Time. — A life with no leisure 
time is not most to be desired, for it is almost sure 
to become one of drudgery. All should have some 
leisure time and should have proper habits of spend- 
ing it. This time should be spent in such a way that 
it will furnish recreation and amusement, and at the 
same time be not degrading, but uplifting in its ef- 
fects. If one must spend his leisure time in such a 
way as to degrade himself, he would be benefitted by 
not having any to spend. 

This time could be spent in the enjoyment of 
Nature; in the enjoyment of literature; in the enjoy- 
ment of fine arts — architecture, sculpture, music, 
painting, and poetry — and in the companionship of 
one's friends, and so spent would be elevating, and 
ennobling. 

Those subjects which will put one in the right 
attitude of mind for the enjoyment of nature are those 
subjects which treat of nature. That is to say, they 
are the natural sciences — botany, zoology, geology, 
astronomy, chemistry, and physics. 



144 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

That subject which gives knowledge valuable for 
-guidance in enjoying literature is directly the school 
subject, literature. And to this should be added 
psychology, which aids largely in the interpretation 
of literature. 

Music, now in many school courses is the subject 
Ti^rhich gives ability to enjoy music. 

In the average school curriculum there is nothing 
T^hich directly prepares one to enjoy architecture, 
sculpture, and painting. 

For the enjoyment of poetry, literature, reading, 
and psychology prepare one. 

Greek and Latin. — Prom a systematic study of 
the school curriculum one wonders why so much time 
is still spent on Greek and Latin in our schools. It 
<5annot be because they give knowledge valuable to 
vany large extent for guidance in living. In fact, they 
have small claim to a place in the school curriculum 
because of the valuable knowledge their pursuit fur- 
nishes. Their claim to a place in the curriculum 
rests upon the idea that they are good disciplinary 
studies. 

It has been shown that those subjects which 
furnish the most valuable knowledge also furnish the 
best discipline. Therefore, Greek and Latin are 
•over-rated as disciplinary subjects, too. It has also 
been seen that it never pays best to study any sub- 
ject merely for discipline when there are so many 
subjects the mastery of which furnishes the best 
discipline and valuable knowledge, too. 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 145 

The Most Valuable Knowledge. — A systematic 
study of the school curriculum points indubitably to 
the fact that the most valuable group of subjects in 
the school curriculum is the science group; the most 
valuable from both the valuable knowledge stand- 
point, and the disciplinary standpoint. 

Science has liberated humanity from the bondage 
of superstition to a large extent. Science has tun- 
neled mountains, bridged rivers, and spanned 
continents. Science has harnessed waterfalls to do 
man's bidding. Science has tamed the lightning to 
minister to man's wants. Science has prevented 
plagues, stamped out zymotic diseases, and made it 
possible for man to inhabit almost every part of the 
earth. In short, science has been the vitalizing force 
which has done more to ameliorate the condition of 
mankind than all other influences combined. Science 
has enfranchised the human race physically, intel- 
lectually, aesthetically, socially, morally, and re- 
ligiously. 

Child Study and the Curriculum, — We will not lose 
sight of the fact that we started out to see whether 
our school curriculum is a rational one or not. And 
in the pursuit of the solution of this problem it has 
been found out that much time is wasted in school in 
the pursuit of subjects not the most valuable. 

There is also another phase of this subject which 
has an important bearing upon the rationality of the 
school curriculum. The question is, Are the subjects 



146 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

m the school course taught at the time in the child's 
life when they are best adapted to his stage of de- 
velopment? A curriculum can not truthfully be said 
to be rational, if the various subjects are not taught 
at the period in the life of the learner when they may 
best be taught. For instance, no one would say a 
school curriculum which provides the study of 
algebra, of psychology, or of logic for the child of six 
is rational. 

Much systematic, painstaking, and exact study 
has recently been given to children in the search for 
the solution of this problem along with many others. 
The consensus of opinion on this question is pretty 
accurately stated in the following quotation: 

Changes in the Curriculum Suggested by Child 
Study.— ''Ouv increasing knowledge of the child's 
mind, his muscular and nervous system, and his 
special senses points indubitably to the conclusion 
that reading and writing are subjects which do not 
belong to the early years of school life, but to a later 
period, and that other subjects now studied later are 
better adapted to this early stage of development. 
What is thus indicated of reading and writing may be 
afarmed also of drawing and arithmetic. " 

The physiological and psychological reasons for 
the above statement can not be discussed here. Suf- 
fice it to say that the study of these things early hi 
school life produces nervous diseases, and arrested 
development; also, diseases of the sense organs. 



THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 147 

particularly of the eyes. There is, too, thus a great 
loss of time and energy, and bad mental habits are 
formed. 

Child study undoubtedly points to the fact that 
nature study ^ oral history, oral literature, and the free 
activity of the larger movements of the body, as in 
manual training, should constitute the school cur- 
riculum for about the first four years of the child's 
school life, and that reading, writing, spelling, draw- 
ing, and arithmetic should come later. 

So the answer derived from our study of the 
school curriculum is, that we certainly have not yet a 
wholly rational school curriculum. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE TEACHER. 



Importance of the Teacher. — From the standpoint 
of the purpose of the school the learner is the most 
important element of the school. But from another 
point of view the teacher seems to be the most im- 
portant element of the school. It is true that the 
school exists for the learner, and without him there 
would be no need for the teacher, school house, cur- 
riculum, or school officers. The development in the 
child's life is the end to be attained, and all parts and 
processes of school work are means to this end. The 
end is always more important than the means in aU 
rational processes. Thus the teacher stands in re- 
lation to the development in the life of the learner as 
means to end. 

When the teacher is considered as the element in 
the school upon which its successful operation most 
depends, he seems the most important element in the 
school. 

There is much truth in the statement, ''As the 
teacher is, so will be the school. " He is the life-giving 
element in the school. If the teacher is properly- 
qualified, loves his work, and has a sympathetic in- 



THE TEACHER. 149 

sight into the hves of his pupils, hardly any thing can 
make his school a failure. 

Duties of the Teacher.— The duties of the teacher 
are, indeed, many. He must poke the fire, sweep 
the floor, keep proper ventilation, oversee the care of 
school grounds, and vigilantly watch school property; 
tie up cut fingers, doctor bruised heads and limbs, 
soothe the sorrows of some, and rejoice in the joy of 
others; encourage the brave, generous, and true, and 
frown upon the cowardly, selfish, and deceitful. He 
must assign lessons, hear recitations, correct the 
wayward, and encourage the good of all kinds. 

From such an inventory of the teacher's duties it 
seems at first sight that nothing can be got but con- 
fusion. A little thought, however, will show that 
these duties may readily be divided into two classes: 
1. Governing. 2. Teaching. 

Governing. — Governing is the work of the teacher in 
keeping the organization running ivith the least possible 
friction. A common error made by the teacher in 
school government is in thinking that he is a legislator 
as well as an executive. He thinks this and so acts 
as to lead his students to think it. No worse mistake 
than this can be made in school government. In- 
stead of the teacher's thinking that he is a legislator 
and that the laws of the school originate in him, he 
should understand that the laws of the school are in- 
herent in the organization itself. The pupils should 
be led by the conduct of the teacher to appreciate 
this fact, too, in so far as they are able to do so. 



150 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The teacher is governor in that it is his duty to 
call attention to the laws of the school, explain them, 
and execute them. 

Teaching. — Teaching is the luorTc of the teacher in 
leading the learner into those experiences which con- 
stantly make him a little more loise and virtuous. 

From this study of teaching it is easy to deduce 
the following definition of a teacher: 

A teacher is one who stimulates the learner to ex- 
periences which he would not have without that one^s 
influence. 

The teacher's duties in teaching are both positive 
and negative. 

Positive Duties. — Every experience the learner 
has affects him permanently to some degree. Some 
organize him toward a higher destiny and some, 
toward a lower. While the child is naturally born 
with capacities for becoming good, he is also born with 
capacities for becoming bad. 

''The child inherits not only the good proclivities 
and propensities of his long line of ancestors, but he 
inherits also bad feelings and emotions. His heart is 
not altogether a good heart; it overflows not only in 
goodness but also at times more or less frequent, 
in selfishness, rancor, bitterness, cowardliness; in 
short in excesses and defects of various kinds. " 

From the positive side the teacher is to guide the 
child in the development of all that is good in his 
nature, and in the acquisition of knowledge which 



THE TEACHER. 151 

will furnish guidance in right living. Thus the 
teacher's positive duties are to arouse the experiences 
in the life of the child which constantly lift him to a 
higher plane of living. Such experiences are along 
six lines: physical, intellectual, aesthetic, social, moral, 
and religious. And this is what it means to teach 
considered from the positive side. Thus, teacJmig is 
arousing those experiences — physical^ intelleGtual^ (Es- 
thetic, social, moral, and religious — in the life of the 
learner to the end that he may continuously grow into a 
higher life. 

Negative Duties. — The teacher's negative duties 
in teaching consist in eliminating the evil tendencies 
from the child's nature. The teacher is not to lose 
sight of the fact that the tendencies, propensities, 
and proclivities for wrong doing born in the child, 
inherited from his long line of ancestors must be 
eliminated. 

Some teachers make a mistake by thinking the 
child is naturally good. The child is not moral, neither 
is he immoral, but he is unmoral; but he may easily 
develop into an immoral individual, if surrounded by 
an immoral environment. Whatever immoral tend- 
encies he has are to be suppressed. But these 
characteristics can not .be effectively suppressed in 
the life of the child by simply attempting to root 
them out without supplying their places with some- 
thing. That is to say, education can not be alone 
negative nor even largely negative. The only safe 



152 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. ^ 

plan is to eliminate the bad by building up the good 
in its place. No teacher or parent will succeed well 
in educating his children, who always has his eye 
fixed on the things which the children ought not to 
do. He should supply the good to take the place of 
the bad. In teaching, as in algebra, a good way to 
get rid of the undesirable element is to eliminate it 
by substitution. 

Characteristics of the Teacher. — In studying the 
characteristics of a teacher one is impressed, at 
the start, with the fact that there are some qualities 
which the teacher must have, if he teaches success- 
fully at all, and that there are other desirable qualities 
which not all can possess. Of the first class scholar- 
ship is an example, and of the second class good health 
and fine native ability are examples. The first class 
of characteristics may be called necessary character- 
istics; the second may be called supplementary char- 
acteristics. 

Without the first set the teacher must be a 
failure. The second set, while not absolutely neces- 
sary to the success of a teacher, are desirable and 
facilitate the ease with which success is attained. 

Necessary Characteristics. — As above stated, these 
are absolutely necessary to any marked degree of 
success on the part of the teacher, and are as follows: 
1. Strong moral character. 2. Scholarship. 3. 
Professional preparation. 4. Energetic, student's 
habits. 5. The habit of daily preparation. 6. Love 



THE TEACHER. 155 

of occupation. 7. Sympathy with children. We 
will study these somewhat in detail. 

Strong Moral Character. — ''The teacher should be 
an example, in person and conduct, of what he re- 
quires of his pupils." This is just as true to-day as 
when said by Comenius two hundred and fifty years 
ago. Since the purpose of the school and the aim of 
education is to make wise and virtuous men and women^ 
no influence which does not contribute to that end 
should ever be brought to bear upon the child. And 
since we are better understanding the power of sug- 
gestion, we are beginning to realize what a powerful 
influence on the life of the children the example of 
the teacher has. Slovenly habits of thought; slang, 
impure English, profanity, by- words; smoking, chew- 
ing tobacco; dishonesty, injustice, and selfishness all 
impress the life of the child and tend to reproduce 
themselves in him. No teacher who uses tobacco — 
smokes or chews — who is careless of his English, or 
who in any way shows himself dishonest or cowardly 
can be as good a man as he would be without those 
traits, and since anything which detracts from man- 
hood detracts from the teacher, it is equally true that 
he can not be as good a teacher as he would be with- 
out those traits. 

But while all can agree on the desirability of 
strong moral character for the teacher, to talk of it 
in the abstract without knowing very definitely what 
it means is not sufficiently helpful. An analysis will 



154 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

show that, at the least, the following elements enter 
into moral character: 1. Knowledge of right and 
wrong. 2. Truthfulness. 3. Honesty. 4. Justness. 
5. Habits of activity. 6. Self-control. 

Knowledge of Right and Wrong. — In order for one 
to have strong moral character, he must have the 
ability to think out the right and wrong in human 
activity. A man's motive may be good and the ac- 
tivity prompted by that motive be very bad. To say 
iihat a man may have strong moral character and be 
at the same time ignorant concerning the common 
laws of life and daily human actions is to place a 
premium on ignorance. An ignoramus can not be 
a man of strong moral character. 

To hold that an act is good provided it is done 
T^T^ithgood intentions, notwithstanding much human 
misery and unhappiness result from it is certainly a 
doctrine very pernicious and baneful in its results. 

Truthfulness. — It seems so evident that truthful- 
ness is an element of morality that no study is needed 
to prove it. There is one aspect of this question 
which enters largely into the work of the teacher. 
Teachers have feared to say ''I don't know," lest 
pupils would lose confidence in their ability. It does 
not necessarily follow that, if the teacher honestly 
acknowledges that he does not know, when such is 
the case, the pupils will lose confidence in his ability. 
If it were so, it would still be a question whether it is 
not preferable for students to lose confidence in one's 



THE TEACHER. 155 

ability than to lose confidence in one's truthfulness. 
But students are, as a rule, reasonable. They do not 
expect that the teacher will never make a mistake, 
nor that he will know the correct answer to every 
question that arises. They further know that they 
have no right to expect so much, but they also know 
that they have a right to expect the teacher to be 
perfectly truthful. 

Honesty. — Honesty and truthfulness seem much 
the same thing, as elements of character. They how- 
ever emphasize different aspects of moral character. 
Truthfulness refers to the representation of things 
as they are, and so refers to one's representing 
things thus. Honesty refers to uprightness in the 
actions of one person to another. In honesty ques- 
tions of advantage and disadvantage are involved. 
There are many ways in which a teacher's honesty is 
involved in school work. The student's instinct for 
truth and honesty will assert itself to the extent that 
he will appreciate these qualities in the teacher. And 
pupils are quick to detect these characteristics as 
well as their opposites. 

It is a great misfortune for students to be under 
1)he influence of a teacher who is untruthful and dis- 
honest. Their opportunities for receiving good from 
such a teacher are greatly lessened. Even when the 
teacher endeavors honestly to benefit his students, 
his influence wiU lack force and effectiveness. 
Students will not hear what he says when they know 
"what he is. 



156 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

"How can I hear what you say, when what you 
are is thundering in my ear." 

"The teacher can not be a signboard. He must 
go the way he points. " 

Justness. — In school work, justness does not 
mean that all students must be treated alike. That 
all students must be treated alike is a traditional 
maxim of school which has been pernicious and evil 
in its effects. This maxim usually refers to correc- 
tions and rewards. Scarcely any one would think 
that in teaching all are to be taught in the same way, 
but in the matter of corrections and rewards the idea 
prevails to a greater or less extent that all students 
are to be treated in the same way. In the matter of 
being just in rewards and corrections the individual 
differences of children must be taken into considera- 
tion as well as in the teaching act. No two children 
respond to stimulus just in the same way nor in the 
same degree. 

It requires some firmness on the part of the 
teacher to be just. The teacher may err in two ways 
in matters of justness: 1. He may err because of 
kindness. 2. He may err from a hypercritical 
spirit. 

Too often the teacher because of kindness fails to 
have the student see just what his paper or recitation 
is worth. A paper graded on the scale of a hundred 
is marked seventy-five per cent, when justice would 
show it to be worth no more than thirty or forty per 



THE TEACHER. 157 

cent. A recitation worth little or nothing is smoothed 
over and patched up by the teacher till the pupil is 
deceived into believing that he has really done some- 
thiug creditable. 

Justice may at times seem severe, but its very 
severity is educative in a high degree. Justice after 
a period of growth always brings a fruitage much to 
be desired. The teacher's profession is in need of 
teachers with courage to give children credit for just 
what they merit, no more and no less. 

Habits of Activity. — No one can be a sluggard and 
he a moral man. Morality means activity. There 
are people who think that if one does no active harm 
he is entitled to be called good. That is to say, some 
hold that activity is not a necessary element of good- 
ness in a man. A little study, however, shows the 
fallacy of this view. If one asks himself the question, 
"What is a good lead pencil?'* or "What is a good 
knife?" and stops to think out the answer, he will find 
that he will reach the conclusion that the lead pencil 
or knife is good which does its work well. That is, 
goodness refers to the ability or adaptability of a 
thing to do its work. And this is the meaning of 
goodness as generally understood concerning all 
things except man. That men are an exception to 
this general truth is not reasonable. 

Also, if a man who does neither active good nor 
bad and so does nothing is good, the question, ''What 
is he good for?" suggests at once the answer, ''good- 
for-nothing." 



158 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Under normal circumstances, a strong moral 
character means a life of intense activity. 

The teacher's profession has no need of teachers 
who find nothing to do after 4:00 P. M. and before 
8:30 A. M., and least of all have our children need for 
such teachers. 

Self-control. — It seems unnecessary to emphasize 
the fact that self-control is an element of morality. 
A brief study of the lines of self-control is, however, 
of some help. 

For our purpose here, self-control may be divided 
Into the following aspects: 

1. Control of the appetites. 

2. Control of one's actions. 

3. Control of one's language. 

No person who lets his appetites go without 
restraint can be a moral person. ''No heart is so 
pure, no soul is so noble, that physical appetite long 
unrestrained does not corrupt. Every mother has it 
In her power to form the tastes and appetites of her 
children. They are always formed^ but the process 
of re-forming is frequently a heart-breaking failure.'* 
The teacher may have an influence in this forming of 
tastes and appetites, but not with much effect until 
he has correctly formed his own. 

No teacher succeeds well who has not learned to 
control his actions in all aspects of school work. 
Many a teacher has lost his opportunities for doing 
good in a school by lack of ability to act calmly and 



THE TEACHER. 159 

reasonably under trying circumstances. A success- 
ful teacher must guard his actions not only under 
trying circumstances, but all the time, even under 
the most usual circumstances. 

Controlling one's language is certainly an element 
of moral character under any consideration, but the 
control of the teacher's language is an element of 
great importance in successful teaching. A word of 
encouragement here, a kind word there; a word 
of approval for this effort, a word of disapproval for 
lack of effort; a mild, pleasing tone at all times; such,, 
other things equal, are among the important elements 
that go to make the ideal teacher. Sarcasm, irony, 
blustering, boisterous tones keyed to a high pitch are 
among the most disorganizing attributes a teacher 
can possess. 

Scholarship. — That a teacher must possess schol- 
arship to teach at all is unquestioned. No one can- 
teach what he does not know, and it is equally true 
that no one can teach well what he does not know 
well. Nothing gives more confidence to the teacher^ 
and nothing is more inspiring to the pupils than to 
know that the teacher is master of his subject. 

A school subject is a group of factSy these facts hav- 
ing a relation peculiar to that subject alone. The teacher 
who is master of his subject not only sees these facts, 
but he sees the relation of these facts to each other 
and to the subject as a whole. With such a knowledge- 
of his subject the teacher sees the end from the be- 



160 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

ginning; he is able to distinguish the important from 
the unimportant, and to organize his work. A lack 
of scholarship makes the teacher a slave to the text- 
iDOok, instead of being, as he should be, a source of 
self -directive energy in the subject. 

It is a very deplorable set of conditions which 
compels teachers to teach subjects about which they 
know barely enough to make a grade for license. 
First class teaching can never be done under such 
circumstances. 

Professional Preparation. — Professional prepara- 
tion from the teacher's point of view means a mastery 
to a greater or less extent of those subjects which 
ivill furnish peculiar guidance to the teacher in his 
actual work in the schoolroom. Everyone who enters 
the profession of medicine, law, or the ministry rec- 
ognizes the need of study which will give guidance in 
his special work. That is to say, men of those pro- 
iessions recognize the need of special preparation for 
professional work. This is not less true in the 
teacher's work than in the other professions. A brief 
study shows that the teacher's professional prepa- 
ration consists in general of the following: 

1. A systematic knowledge of the laws of life, 
b>oth physical and mental. 

2. A knowledge of the purpose of education. 

3. A knowledge of current, approved methods. 

4. Practice in the art of teaching. 

A short study of each of these is beneficial. 



THE TEACHER. 161 

A Knowledge of the Laius of Life. — The laws of life 
are those truths of the body and the mind which all 
physical and mental growth obeys during life. They 
are of two general classes: physical and mental. The 
teacher learns physical laws in the study of physi- 
ology and hygiene; and the mental laws are to be 
learned in the study of psychology. 

The question before us for study is, Must the most 
successful teacher have a scientifiG knowledge of psychol- 
ogy ^ physiology f and hygiene? We can study this 
question in the two following ways: 

1. We can depend upon our own ability to think 
it out correctly. 

2. We can study what our foremost educational 
thinkers have thought about it. 

What Our Own Study Shoivs. — If the teacher knew 
absolutely nothing of the laws of life, he could not 
teach school a day, an hour, or even a minute. He 
could not tell whether beef or arsenic would be food; 
whether a child would be comfortable in an atmos- 
phere at the freezing point or at the boiling point; 
whether he would be more comfortable sitting 
down, running, or standing on his head; nor could he 
decide on any hygienic or physiological question 
whatever concerning the child's welfare. Neither 
could he tell how, when, or why to teach any point of 
knowledge. He would not know whether to begin 
the study of algebra, logic, or reading with the child 
of six or with the child of sixteen. Without some 



162 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

knowledge of the laws of life, the teacher could not 
(1) provide a suitable course of study; (2) arrange his 
school into classes; (3) assign lessons suitable to 
his classes; (4) interpret his pupils' conduct; (5) 
know whether his pupils grasp the meaning of the 
lesson. In short, he could not teach at all. 

Therefore, to teach school at all a teacher must 
know something of physiology^ hygiene^ and psychology. 
Everyone of course knows something of these sub- 
jects, but the knowledge of most is what is called 
ordinary knoivledgCy and not scientijic Tcnoivledge. An 
examination of ordinary knowledge shows it to be 
possessed of the following qualities: it is incompletey 
fragmentary, unorganized, contains many partial truths, 
has error intermingled ivith the truth, and is not usable 
to as high degree as it should be. 

Scientific knowledge is found to be possessed of 
the following qualities: it is more complete, more con- 
nected, better organized, contains more whole truths, 
has the error eliminated to a large degree, and is 
usable to a large extent. 

Now, the question is. Which will help the teacher 
more in teaching, the ordinary knowledge or the 
scientific knowledge of physiology, hygiene, and 
psychology? 

Everyone knows something of science, the knowl- 
edge having been picked up in fragments from ex- 
perience, but it is not this knowledge which has most 
caused the progress of the world. The knowledge 



THE TEACHER. 163 

"which has caused civilization to move forward with 
such strides in the present century has been that 
which was scientific. 

Thus the question we started out to study re- 
duces itself to the following: First, a teacher must 
have some knowledge of physiology, hygiene, and 
psychology to teach at all. Secondly, the teacher 
through everyday experience may acquire an ordi- 
nary knowledge of these subjects. Thirdly, the 
teacher may acquire through study a scientific 
knowledge of these subjects. Fourthly, scientific 
knowledge is the most valuable for guidance. Fifthly, 
the teacher should have the scientific knowledge of 
physiology, hygiene, and psychology. Sixthly, the 
most successful teacher must be an earnest student of 
physiology^ hygiene, and psychology. 

Thoughts of Teachers. — There are two classes of 
teachers who oppose the study of psychology as a 
part of the teacher's professional preparation. Those 
of the first class know something of psychology only 
as an abstract science, not as an applied science. 
This class sees nothing in psychology but discipline, 
because to them there is no such a thing as educa- 
tional psychology. There are but few of this 
class, the most of them having belonged to an older 
school. 

Those of the second class, a very large class, 
know little or no scientific psychology, and so oppose 
it, because to acknowledge the need for it is to ac- 



164 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

knowledge a criticism on themselves. With the 
second class the wish has been father to the thought. 
They oppose it perfectly consistently. If one knows 
no psychology, his knowledge of psychology certainly 
will not help him any in teaching. 

The rapid strides with which pedagogical work 
has been coming into schools of every kind is evidence 
of what is being thought on this subject. Every 
normal school, private and public, every college and 
university now has its pedagogical department. And 
this state of things is very recent. Now, psychology 
is the basis upon which the whole superstructure of 
pedagogy stands. 

Teachers' examinations almost everywhere now 
demand a knowledge of professional subjects, too. 

Thoughts of the Thinkers. — William T. Harris, 
United States Commissioner of Education, and an 
eminent thinker and educator says: "If the teacher 
knows nothing of psychology as a science, he must 
copy in detail the methods of others, and rely on his 
general knowledge of human nature derived from 
experience. Like all uneducated workmen, he may 
succeed after a sort by following tradition unaided 
by science, but he will not develop beyond a narrow 
degree of perfection in details. He will have no in- 
sight into the general relations of his work. He can 
not safely deviate from routine, nor venture to crit- 
icise his own work or the work of others. If he has 
learned good models, he may pass for a good teacher; 



THE TEACHER. 165 

if he has learned bad ones, he is unable to perceive 
their defects. Possessing no scientific knowledge of 
the mind he can not lift himself above the details 
of his art to the principles which govern them, and 
become himself an original source of directive energy. 
Some knowledge of the mind every successful teacher 
must have, although in so many cases it is unsystem- 
atic, and consequently unscientific." 

Herbert Spencer, the philosopher, psychologist, 
and educator, says: ^' Grant that the phenomena of 
intelligence conform to laws; grant that the evolution 
of intelligence in a child also conforms to laws; and it 
follows inevitably that education can be rightly guided 
only by a knowledge of these laws. To suppose that 
you can properly regulate this process of forming 
and accumulating ideas, without understanding the 
nature of the process, is absurd. How widely, then, 
must teaching as it is, differ from teaching as it 
should be; when hardly any parents, and but few 
teachers, know anything about psychology." 

William James, an eminent psychologist, says: 
"It (a knowledge of psychology) certainly narrows 
the path for experiments and trials. We know in 
advance, if we are psychologists, that certain methods 
will be wrong, so our psychology saves from mis- 
takes. It makes us, moreover, more clear as to what 
we are about. We gain confidence in respect to any 
method which we are using as soon as we believe that 
it has theory as well as practice at its back. Most of 



166 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

all it fructifies our independence, and it reanimates 
our interest." 

Without multiplying quotations, let it be sufficient 
to say there is scarcely an educator of note or good 
reputation among civilized peoples who does not speak 
in the same general way on this subject. 

A knoivledge of psycJiology is absolutely no guaran- 
tee of a good teacher^ hut it is just as true that no one can 
be more than a successful imitator as a teacher without a 
knowledge of psychology. To be an artist in one's 
work requires a mastery of the principles underlying 
that work. 

Purpose of Education. — The purpose of education 
has been studied before, but it remains to study why 
the teacher should have as nearly correct views as 
possible of the purpose of education. And since the 
purpose of education and the purpose of life are 
the same, the question to be studied is the importance 
of having the correct view of the purpose of life. 

One may possibly wear his religion on Sundays, 
and put it off on week days. But his view of the 
object to be accomplished by education will show it- 
self in all he does. Every act in the schoolroom will 
be affected by it. If he has wrong ideas of the pur- 
pose of education, every assignment will be tinged by 
it; every recitation will be colored thereby; and every 
correction or direction will be affected by these false 
ideas. If he has right ideas of life and education, 
they will manifest themselves in all his school work. 



THE TEACHER. 167 

If he has no definite ideas of the purpose of education 
and life, his work will be purposeless, scattering, 
disorganized, and fragmentary. A clear, fervent 
purpose will draw the teacher's work toward its ac- 
complishment as surely as the magnet attracts the 
particles of steel. 

Knowledge of Methods. — The teacher should know 
current approved methods of teaching the various 
school subjects. The notion that students can grad- 
uate from the primary school or the high school and 
go into the schools and teach well without having 
studied approved methods is entirely wrong, and 
baneful, and pernicious in its influences. The ap- 
pallingly bad work done by such teachers all over the 
country is evidence of this truth. 

It is still held by many that if the teacher knows 
his subject well this is a guarantee that he will teach 
it well. This, however, is not at all necessarily true. 
Nothing is commoner in school work than teachers 
who know their subjects well, but who teach poorly. 

''The professional training of teachers is not 
generally high. Many people still entertain the idea 
that to know a subject is a guarantee of the ability to 
teach it. Nor is it easy to demonstrate the fallacy of 
this notion to those who are ignorant of the laws that 
govern the workings of the human mind." 

The teacher who knows the method of teaching 
any subject knows (1) the means to he used; (2) howcm^- 
rectly to use them; (3) the natural processes of tJie 
learner's mind in learning that subject. 



168 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

To any one who will think it is plain that to know 
this is of equal importance with knowing well the 
subject. This point will receive full study in chapter 
IX. 

Practice in the Art of Teaching. — One becomes 
skillful in doing anything by practice. Thus one 
becomes skillful in writing by practice in writing; 
skillful in riding a bicycle by riding; skillful in skating 
by skating; skillful in ball-playing by playing ball. 
This is a principle that holds true in the acquirement 
of any art. And since teaching is an art, the principle 
applies to it. So a teacher to become skillful must 
have practice in the art of teaching. This practice 
may be obtained in two ways: 

1. A student may obtain it by teaching as a 
student- teacher under the direction of a skillful train- 
ing-teacher in a training school. 

2. A teacher may obtain it by teaching in his 
own school without having had any practice before, 
and thus acquire the skill by experience without the 
direction of a training- teacher. 

It is evident that learning to teach in the latter 
way is pretty hard on the pupils upon which the 
teacher practices. It is too much a matter of experi- 
ment, and is very much like a physician's learning to 
practice medicine by experimenting upon his pa- 
tients. But everywhere almost the children in our 
schools are victims of such experimenting. 



THE TEACHER. 169 

It is truly a deplorable set of conditions which 
compels persons to teach who have merely enough 
education in the subjects to secure licenses, and it ia 
certainly not a less deplorable set of conditions which 
compels teachers to experiment thus with the inno- 
cent lives of our children. 

Energetic Student Habits. — ^The living teacher is a. 
constant worker. He ever keeps before him a high 
degree of excellence in all lines of work toward which 
he constantly strives. A teacher never reaches a 
place in his school work where he can safely rest on 
the oars and drift. There is absolutely no way ta 
have a thorough, fresh knowledge of the subjects 
taught; to keep in mind the best educational methods 
and ideals; to maintain a healthful interest in one's 
profession but by constant industrious student habits. 
Everything that lives progresses, and nothing makes 
progress more rapidly than the science and art of 
education. One as a teacher simply can not rely upon 
his past preparation to guide him safely and success- 
fully through in his teaching. He must keep up with 
educational progress or he will be an "old fogy " and 
a "fossil" sooner than he is aware. The educational 
world demands thoughtful, progressive teachers. 

"To reach the port of heaven, we must sail some- 
times with the wind and sometimes against it, — but 
we must sail, and not drift nor lie at anchor. " 

Daihj Preparation. — No teacher can succeed well 
without the habit of preparing his lessons for his. 



170 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

daily recitations, and for this reason the habit of 
daily preparation is regarded a necessary character- 
istic of the teacher. A teacher never gets to a point 
"where he knows a subject so well that he can do his 
best work without making special preparation for 
each lesson. This is true for several reasons. First, 
no lesson is ever taught at any two times under the 
same set of circumstances. Students to whom 
the lessons are to be taught will vary in capacity and 
other particulars. So each lesson must be prepared 
with the view of teaching it to the particular class one 
has, if the very best teaching is to be done. 

Secondly, a teacher who teaches without daily 
preparation shows staleness in his work; his teaching 
lacking all the freshness, vigor, and interest born of 
seeing something new in the subject. This results 
irom the fact that going over the same thing again 
and again without seeing anything new of necessity 
grows monotonous and uninteresting. While on the 
other hand no one ever knows a subject so well but 
that he can see something new in it by his study in 
daily preparation. 

Thirdly, for most teachers it is the only means of 
mitigating the evils which usually result from a lack 
of sufficient knowledge of the subjects taught. 

The teacher who will succeed best is the one who 
*'gets out" his lessons daily. This he expects of his 
students, and this his students have a right to expect 
of him. 



THE TEACHER. 171 

Love of Occupatio^i.—^Eyerj one knows with how 
much more zest work which one Hkes to do is done 
than work which one does not hke to do. Too many 
teachers make teaching a mere stepping-stone to 
some other kind of work, and so do not put their 
hearts into it and really prepare themselves for the 
work. Not being in love with teaching is largely 
the cause of this. 

No teacher who does not hke to teach school can 
show so much interest, enthusiasm, aggressiveness, 
and progressiveness in his work as he would if he 
loved it. Love for the work hghtens the labor; it puts 
the spirit of life into it. Otherwise teaching becomes 
the veriest drudgery, a thing to be endured only. 

Sympathy with Children. — By m^d^Xhy with chil- 
dren has been regarded by many great educators as 
the highest and most essential characteristic of the 
teacher. The abihty of the teacher to rejoice with 
his students in their joys and triumphs, to grieve 
with them in their grief, in short, to be in sympa- 
thetic touch with their lives in all phases is the 
characteristic above all others that enables the teacher 
to touch the lives of his children and uplift them. 
Such a teacher is one of heart power— the one who 
can love every chUd, the erring and wayward as well 
as the good. 

It is unfortunate for the children that circum- 
stances are such that teachers largely teach school at 
a period of hfe when they have the least sympathy 



172 STUDIES 1]S PEDAGOGY. 

for children. From sixteen to thirty is the period in 
life in which young men and young women have the 
least sympathy for children. This is the period in 
which young men and young women are most inter- 
ested in themselves and in each other. Before sixteen, 
and after about thirty they have more sympathy with 
children. But between sixteen and thirty is the 
period in which a large majority of teachers do their 
teaching. 

Sympathy for child life is idealized in the follow* 
ing, said to have been found among the unpublished 
papers of Charles Dickens, the great educator and 
lover of children: 

They are idols of hearts and of households; 
They are angels of God in disguise; 
His sunshine still sleeps in their tresses; 
His glory still beams in their eyes. 

Those shouts of home and of heaven 
Have made me more manly and mild, 
And I now know how Jesus could liken 
The Kingdom of God to a child. 

My heart grows as tender as woman's, 
And the fountains of feeling will flow, 
When I think of the paths steep and stony 
Where the feet of these dear ones must go. 

O, the mountains of sin that o'er-hang them ! 
O, the tempests of fate blowing wild ! 
But I know there's nothing on earth more holy 
Than the innocent heart of a child. 

Desirable Characteristics^ Though Not Absolutely 
Necessary. — ^There are several characteristics which 



THE TEACHER 173 

greatly facilitate a teacher's success, but which not 
all teachers can possess, and without which success 
in teaching may still be attained. A few of the most 
important of these will be briefly studied: 1. Good 
health. 2. Natural aptitude. 3. Personal magnet- 
ism. 4. Mastery of the circumstances. 

Good Health. — The relation between the mind and 
body is so close that whatever in any way affects the 
efficiency of bodily functions also affects the mind. 
Dispositions and temperaments are results of bodily 
conditions. To do one's best work of any kind requires 
a healthy, vigorous, vivacious condition of the nervous, 
digestive, circulatory, respiratory, and muscular 
systems. Aggressive, vigorous, efficient work is the 
accompaniment of good health. 

Ill health on the other hand induces weakness of 
effort, irritability of mind, despondent and depressed 
states of spirit, discouragement and dreariness fatal 
to all successful teaching and school government. Ill 
health makes all work drudgery, amusement a bore, 
and life a misery and a failure. The longer one lives 
the more fully he appreciates this fact 

Therefore, one of the highest duties towards his 
school is for the teacher to make all reasonable ex- 
ertion to keep his health uniformly excellent. 

Natural Aptitude. — No doubt there are persons 
who are to some extent natural teachers; that is, are 
naturally adapted to teaching, while others have no 
natural ability as a teacher. There are persons who 



174 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

naturally show an aptitude in music, while others can 
never reach any marked degree of proficiency in 
music. The same is without doubt true of teachers. 
This natural aptitude is a very desirable character- 
istic, and one that must be possessed by every teacher 
to some extent, but it is one which not all, not even a 
majority of teachers, possess to a large extent. That 
most persons can become good teachers with proper 
preparation is an encouraging truth. However, it is 
just as true that there are some who when they at- 
tempt to teach have entirely missed their calling. 
There are some whose native ability for teaching is 
such that they will never succeed at this work. Such 
people, who may be most excellent men and women, 
may succeed well at some other line of work. Froebel 
and Pestalozzi succeeded well at nothing else but 
teaching. 

Personal Magnetism. — This is the characteristic of 
the teacher which draws people to him. It is the 
endowment of the teacher which makes friends for 
him both in school and out of school. It is not, as 
some suppose, altogether an endowment with which 
one is born. It may be attained to by painstaking care. 
Some of the elements which go to make it up are 
general friendliness, sympathy, courtesy, charity, frank- 
ness, and pleasant greeting. These elements may all 
or any of them be attained by careful cultivation. 

Mastery of Circumstances. — By a mastery of cir- 
cumstances is meant the ability of doing the proper 



THE TEACHER. 175 

thing next under any set of circumstances. There 
are persons who seem never to know what to do next 
under any set of circumstances except the most usual, 
while again there are persons who seem always to 
know what to do in any set of circumstances. Now 
the teacher has much need of belonging to the latter 
class, for a school is a place famous for the uprising 
of unusual circumstances. A teacher must possess 
the ability to some extent to meet the occasion, other- 
wise he can hardly get along for a day. But perhaps 
not all can possess this characteristic to the extent 
desired. 

Illustration. — A student upon an occasion of fail- 
ure in recitation in a class, insisted he had no right 
to believe what he could not see with his eyes. Vari- 
ous illustrations were given by the teacher to show 
that the position taken by the student was not only 
untenable but unreasonable. The student would not 
be convinced of his error. The teacher mildly and 
pleasantly asked the student if he believed he had a 
brain. A smile went around the class and the 
student took his seat without a word. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 

Importance of. — There is no subject that enlists 
the attention of the teacher of more far-reaching im- 
portance tlian this one of school government. Upon 
the successful solution of the question, How best 
manage a school? depends the efficiency of all the 
school processes. The teacher who fails in school 
government fails in all, because all other aspects of 
school work bear an organic relation to school man- 
agement and their efficiency depends upon it. To the 
beginning teacher it is the most vital school question. 
It is the rock upon which more teachers in their 
careers have been shipwrecked than upon any other. 
It has caused more sleepless nights, more shattered 
nervous systems, more hot, scalding tears than any 
other aspect of school work. 

Kinds of School Government. — There are to be 
iound in school two kinds of school government: gov- 
ernment by force, or fear, and government by direc- 
tion rather than by suppression. The following 
names are respectively appropriate: 1. Police gov- 
ernment. 2. Rational government. 

Police government is by physical force, or by fear 
on the part of the pupils. Such government is always 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 177 

accompanied by a great deal of friction and bad feel- 
ing. It does little or nothing toward giving the pupil 
habits of right self-control and self-direction, the end 
of all school government. 

Rational government aims to lead the pupils to 
do right because they love the right. It is to be 
accomplished by reasonable means of firmness, kind- 
ness, and justice. It accomplishes much toward 
making pupils self-governing, toward giving them 
habits of right self-control and right self-direction. 

The School an Organization. — In the study of the 
nature of the school in a previous chapter, it was seen 
that the school is an organization, and that the ideas 
which are to be found in an organization, according to 
the best use of the term, are: 

1. It is a complex whole. 

2. This whole is made up of individual parts. 

3. These parts have a harmonious working re- 
lation. 

4. These parts work for one common end. 

5. The whole is self-acting and self-adjusting. 

The school is made up of pupil, teacher, cur- 
riculum, school officers, etc., aU constituting a com- 
plex whole, the individual parts being patrons, school 
officers, children, teacher, etc. These all work to- 
gether in such a way as not to produce friction, and 
so as to economize energy as far as possible. This is 
what is meant by a harmonious working relation. 
The education of the learner is, the common end for 



178 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

which all these parts work. The school as a whole 
acts — originates its program, classes, recitations, and 
sets up ideals and strives to attain them ; it also, when 
it gets out of order, proceeds to adjust its own diffi- 
culties. In this way it is self-acting and self-ad- 
justing. 

The Fundamental Law. — When the school is doing 
the work of educating the pupils the most efficiently, 
it is found to be when there is the most unity in it. 
And when it is doing its work the most poorly, it is 
found to be when there is the greatest lack of unity. 
Then the law underlying all the complex activities of 
the school to which they conform in order to contrib- 
ute to the highest success of the school, is the law of 
unity. 

By unity is meant that any act of any element of 
the school furthers any other act of the same element or 
any act of a different element toiuard the accomplishment 
of the purpose of the school. 

It is evident that unity is the thing which will 
contribute to the success of the school always. And 
it is equally evident that if one element of the school 
so acts that his activity antagonizes the acts of any 
other element, or other acts of his own that it works 
against the success of the school — it breaks the law 
of unity. 

From the study so far the hint is that the problem 
invoU^ed in school management is the maintenance of 
the law of unity. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 179 

Source of the Law. — The laws of any organization 
are inherent in the organization and are not externally 
imposed. The law that determines that the plumule, 
the growing point of the stem of the plant, grows 
toward sunlight and air, and the law that determines 
that the radix, the growing point of the root, grows 
from the sunlight and air are in the inherent nature 
of the plant. No externally imposed conditions can 
change the laws. The botanist can discover these 
and many other laws of plant life, but he can make no 
laws for the plant. No one can legislate for the plant. 
Legislatures and parliaments might pass a law that 
hereafter plants should grow, blossom, and produce 
fruit without moisture, sunshine, and heat, and all 
nations of the earth might ratify this law, but the 
plants would go on in their own seemingly stubborn 
way, and demand for their growth, heat, light, and 
moisture. 

The law of the school is as much a part of the 
nature of the school as the laws of plant life are a 
part of the nature of the plant. 

Rules. — The various aspects of the law of unity 
are rightly to be considered the rules of the school. 
Some writers have attempted to make a distinction 
between the law of the school and the rules of the 
school. It has been said that a rule of the school is 
an externally imposed regulation made by the teacher, 
director, trustee, or superintendent, and that a law 
of the school is some truth inherent in the nature of 



180 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

the school according to which the various elements 
act. This is not a true distinction; and to attempt to 
make such a distinction is bad, because it is a source 
of mischief. The right meaning of a rule is, that it is 
a minor law. The various aspects of the law of unity 
are thus the rules of the school. The following is a 
formal statement for it: A rule of the school is some 
aspect of the laiu of unity. 

The correct ideas of the law and the rules of the 
school should be thoroughly fixed in the lives of pupils 
and teacher. 

Aspects of the Laio. — An analysis of the law of 
unity in the school reveals various lines of unity to be 
sought, the most prominent of which are the follow- 
ing: 

1. Unity in the organization as a whole. 

2. Unity between teacher and pupil. 

3. Unity between the pupil's real and ideal self. 
Before taking up the study of each of these in 

detail, it is worth while to notice that this is only a 
very general analysis. A minute analysis would re- 
veal almost an endless number of aspects of the law 
of unity. For instance, there must be unity between 
patrons and teacher; between patrons and children; 
among school officers; between the school officers and 
teacher; between the school officers and children, 
and among the children themselves. Each one of 
these unities might in turn be further analyzed. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 181 

Unity in the Organization as a Whole. — There is 
complete unity in the organization as a whole when 
every element of it is so acting that each act furthers 
the influence of any other act of any element toivard the 
accomplishment of the common end — the education of 
the learner. 

The thought of what unity in the school as a 
whole consists of is of the highest importance to every 
conscious element in the school. If this thought can 
be so firmly fixed in the minds of each person — 
teacher, learner, school officers, and patrons — con- 
nected with the school that it will become a part of 
his life, the government of the school will be largely 
accomplished. 

An appreciation of the meaning of the law of 
unity in the organization as a whole will reveal the 
fact that it is not the learner alone, as usually thought, 
who violates the rules of the school, but almost as 
often the teacher, the patrons, or the school hoard. 

Legislators themselves may break the rules of 
the school by making "school laws" that break the 
unity of the school, and militate against the integrity 
and efficiency of school work. It thus appears that 
there is a distinction between the law of the school 
and what often goes into the statutes as "school laws. " 

When a school board secures a teacher for any 
other reason than because of the ability of that 
teacher to do good teaching, its members break the 
law of the school. That teachers should be chosen 



182 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

from any other consideration than their ability to 
minister to the lives of their pupils is a pernicious 
doctrine which should have the condemnation of all 
honest and sensible people in the strongest possible 
terms. Poverty, patronage, nepotism, machine pol- 
itics, church influences, and so on, of themselves 
should have absolutely no place in the considerations 
when a teacher is to be chosen. A school board will 
hire a teacher year after year wholly incompetent and 
unfit for a teacher, because she is poor and has an 
invalid mother; they will not hire competent and pro- 
ficient married ladies to teach because perchance a 
married lady who teaches will support her worthless 
husband. Or they will trade patronage, a teacher 
being hired because she trades at the store which is 
owned by a member of the board. Such school 
boards are the worst enemies of the schools and the 
children who are in them. There is no economy, no 
justice, nor common sense in thus injuring the lives 
of a room-full of children, thirty or forty, year after 
year, in order to furnish a place for a teacher who is 
incompetent. 

One gets heart- sick at the incompetency, dis- 
honesty, or imbecility of a school board which will 
take into consideration the many things brought to 
bear to secure places for incompetent teachers even 
at the disregard of the influence on the growing lives 
of the children. The doctrine that sets anything 
above the welfare of the pupils in the choice of teach- 
ers is wholly indefensible. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 183 

In this manner is the law of the school broken by 
school boards to their everlasting dishonor and dis- 
grace; and the conditions of our school system which 
permit this pernicious custom constitute the most 
serious defect of the American schools to-day, one 
whose influence is baneful alike to pupils and teachers. 

The Power of Sentiment. — By sentiment is meant 
a feeling for or against anything because of a knowl- 
edge concerning that thing. Sentiment is a powerful 
factor in controlling people's lives and actions. In 
fact life is almost wholly controlled by sentiment. 

A certain church community has a sentiment 
against an organ in church, and a pastor comes and 
lauds the advantages of the church organ. One can 
easily judge the standing of that pastor in that com- 
munity. The same sermon might be preached in 
another community with most satisfactory results. 
In a town now in mind almost everyone plays at 
cards, and any new-comer who refuses to play is 
regarded as unsociable and ridiculous. The best 
church people in this town do not object to cards, so 
to play at cards has no bad effect upon one's reputa- 
tion in this town. In another town now in mind, to 
play at cards is placed in the category of heinous 
crimes, so to play at cards here would ruin one's 
reputation and destroy his usefulness in this com- 
munity. What is the difference in the two places? 
The answer is a difference in sentiment. 

Since sentiment is thus so strong a factor in 
determining people's actions, it may be made use of 



184 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

very advantageously in school government. If there 
is some line of conduct which breaks the law of unity 
in the school, the most potent, as well as the most 
rational, means of controlling it is to establish a sen- 
timent against it in the school. And if there is some 
line of conduct beneficial to the school, the surest way 
of introducing and maintaining it is to establish a 
sentiment in favor of it. 

The Main Line of School Government. — It will be 
found then that the main work of the teacher in school 
government is to establish a proper sentiment with 
respect to the following five points: 

1. The law of the school is inherent in the school 
because of the pupil's part in it. 

2. The pupils as much as the teacher help to 
make the rules of the school. 

3. The teacher, pupils, school officers, or patrons 
may break a rule of the school. 

4. The pupils as well as the teacher help to keep 
the rules of the school intact. 

5. The ultimate object of the school is the high- 
est good of each pupil. 

If teachers can estabhsh a strong sentiment for 
that which is wanted and against that which is 
not wanted in school the government of the school 
will largely care for itself. 

"The main line of work running through the 
management of a school is that of developing in 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 185" 

the thought of the pupil the laws which are in the 
school because of his membership in it." 

Behavior, or Conduct. — Behavior in school is often 
thought of as applying merely to the student, but a. 
true view shows that conduct with reference to the 
school involves the actions of the teacher, pupil, pa- 
tron, or school officer. Conduct in school is one^s hear- 
ing toioard the unity in the school. Good conduct is 
that which maintains or tends to maintain the unity 
in school; bad conduct is that which breaks or tends 
to break the unity in school. That which is good 
behavior is right in school, and bad behavior is wrong^^ 
in school. 

Illustration. — Whispering as a rule is wrong in 
school, because it breaks the unity in several ways. 
First, it breaks the unity between the teacher and 
the pupil, because it is discourteous to the teacher ,-^ 
and when the pupil whispers he breaks the unity of 
thought between his own mind and the mind of the 
teacher. Secondly, it disturbs others in the class, is 
noisy, and disorderly. Every teacher should set the 
stamp of strong disapproval upon whispering in 
school by showing the students that they are much 
more gentlemanly and lady-like without it. 

Unity betiveen Teacher and Learner. — It is in the 
unity between the teacher and the learner that the 
life of the learner comes into vital touch with the life 
of the teacher. There is unity between the teacher 
and the learner when there is a mutual furtherance ia. 
their acts toward the education of the learner. 



186 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

This unity has an important influence upon suc- 
cessful teaching. No teacher can do his best teaching 
to a student when he is aware that there is antagonism 
between that student and himself — when he does not 
like the student or when he knows the student does 
not like him. And no student can do his best work 
for a teacher when he does not like the teacher or 
w^hen he knows the teacher does not like him. From 
which it results that the teacher should make all 
reasonable efforts to maintain cordial relations be- 
tween himself and his students. These cordial re- 
lations should manifest themselves at all times both 
in the recitation and out, if this unity is to be main- 
tained. 

Unity between the Learner's Real and Ideal Self. — 
There is unity between the learner's real and ideal 
self when each act of his life lifts him from a lower to 
a higher plane of living; when through his action the 
I am becomes constantly what was the / ought just 
before the act. 

From this it appears that constant, perfect unity 
between the real and ideal self of the learner can 
never be more than approximated, for to attain to 
such unity constantly would be an ideal growth to- 
ward self-realization. 

To make the learner conscious that every act of 
his life leaves a permanent effect and influence on his 
life, and that every act which brings about unity be- 
tween his real and ideal self influences him for good, 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 187 

and that every act which breaks this unity or tends 
to break it affects him for the worse, is to make him 
conscious of the disturbing struggle in Ufe. When 
the learner sees and fervently feels the nature of this 
struggle he is naturally unwilling to do those things 
which will degrade him, but aspires to a higher life 
constantly. 

Thus in maintaining the unity between the 
student's real and ideal self, the school is fixing the 
habit with him of right living under any circumstan- 
ces. And this — to give the learner the habit of self-con- 
trol and right self-direction — is the ultimate end of all 
school government 

Unifying Conditions. — Unity in school is not best 
attained directly, but is best attained indirectly by 
establishing unifying conditions. With the proper 
unifying conditions established unity follows as a 
natural result. Thus the establishing of unifying 
conditions is a means to unity as an end. 

Unifying conditions might be analyzed into many 
aspects, but time will permit the study of only the 
following important aspects : 

1. Unifying conditions in the organization as a 
whole. 

2. Unifying conditions between teacher and 
learner. 

3. Unifying conditions between the learner's 
real and ideal self. 



188 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Unifying Conditions in the Organization as a Whole, 
— Unity in the organization as a whole means that all 
the elements of the school so act that each act fur- 
thers the influence of any other activity of any element 
toward the accomplishment of the common object — 
the education of the learner. 

Now, what is the condition which preeminently 
brings about this unity? The answer to this question 
is, the condition above all others for unity in the 
organization as a whole is the proper sentiment to- 
ward the nature of the school and its work; that is, 
the proper sentiment toward the following points as 
stated before: 

1. The law of the school is inherent in the school 
because of the pupil's part in it. 

2. The pupils as much as the teacher help to 
make the rules of the school. 

3. The teacher, pupils, school officers, or patrons 
may break a rule of the school. 

4. The pupils as well as the teacher help to keep 
the rules of the school intact. 

5. The ultimate object of the school is the high- 
est good of each pupil. 

This condition estimates every act of every ele- 
ment of the school in terms of its ministry to the wel- 
fare of the pupils. It means the best is none too good 
for the pupil. The best teacher, the best school house, 
the best books, the best school board, the best 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 189 

superintendent, and the best apparatus are due the 
pupils. 

And any school officer, teacher, or superintend- 
ent who purposely, or through neglect, does less than 
to strenuously exert himself to secure those con- 
ditions is not loyal to the charge entrusted to him. 

Conditions of Unity between Teacher and Pupils. — 
The most important condition of unity between 
teacher and pupils is the spirit of good will and cor- 
diality — the feeling on the part of the pupils that their 
teacher is earnestly trying to do them good, and the 
feeling on the part of the teacher that the students 
believe that he is earnestly trying to help them on 
toward a wise and virtuous life. This spirit in school 
is the most potent condition of unity between the 
teacher and his pupils. 

A second important condition of unity between 
the teacher and pupils is the school-room. It is the 
place where the outward form of unity in the school 
is maintained. It is the place where the students 
come together for the work of the school, and it may 
be made a positive influence for securing unity. 

"It must be more than a secure, quiet, and com- 
fortable meeting-place for teacher and pupil; it must 
have a positively elevating influence, bringing the 
pupil, by its active toning power, into the higher life 
and mood of unity with the teacher." 

The schoolroom should be a place of harmony, 
peace, and beauty; pleasing, attractive, and homehke. 



190 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

It should have clean and beautiful floors and walls, 
with some harmony between the two. There should 
be some decoration in the form of some well chosen 
pictures, not many, though, some casts, and some 
vases and flowers; and whatever else good taste sug- 
gests to make it pleasant, pure, harmonious, and 
admirable. The general tone of such a schoolroom 
constantly tends to induce the attitude of mind favor- 
able to the unity of the pupil with his teacher. 

The Purpose of the Schoolroom. — The purpose of 
the schoolroom as a unifying condition may be ana- 
lyzed into the following three points: 

1. To bring the learner into the presence of the 
teacher. 

2. To make the teacher and learner comfortable. 

3. To minimize diverting influences. 

Presence of Learner. — In the schoolroom the 
learner is brought into the presence of the teacher. 
It is necessary for the pupil and teacher to work in 
the same atmosphere. No first rate teaching can be 
done except in the presence of the learner. An at- 
tempt is sometimes made to teach by correspondence, 
but such teaching lacks the life, flexibility, and force 
that come from the personal contact of teacher and 
learner. In the presence of the student the teacher 
can adapt his teaching to the moods, attitudes of 
mind, and peculiarities of each individual. Thus only 
in the presence of the student can the teacher best 
lead him to think, experience the feeling, and will as 
he should. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 191 

Also in teaching it is necessary to have the pupils 
in easy communicable relations. The minds of 
pupils can not keep in touch with the mind of the 
teacher in the teaching act unless the pupils can 
without difficulty see and hear the teacher. If 
students must crane their necks to see the teacher's 
face and gestures, and strain to hear his words, it is 
safe to say unity will not last long under such con- 
ditions. Students will naturally make a few spas- 
modic efforts under such circumstances to maintain 
the unity between themselves and the teacher, but 
the tension being too great, they will soon settle down, 
the unity broken, to await the end of the recitation. 

Communicable relations demand that the school- 
room be not 'too long, nor too broad. Students can 
not hear the teacher well more than thirty feet, and 
can not see the teacher well from the sides if the 
width of the room is more than twenty-four feet. All 
school authorities are agreed on these dimensions for 
a schoolroom. So from the standpoint of school gov- 
ernment, as well as from the hygienic standpoint, no 
schoolroom should be larger than twenty-four by 
thirty-three feet. 

Comfoi^t of Teacher and Pupils. — Much of the noise 
and friction in school arises because the pupils are 
uncomfortable. No student should be expected to 
work quietly who is uncomfortable to any great ex- 
tent. While the schoolhouse is to provide for the 
comfort of pupils and teachers, many of them cer- 



192 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

tainly fail in this to a remarkable degree. When 
students and the teacher are uncomfortable, the unity 
of teacher and pupils is broken in that their attention 
is drawn to their bodily discomfort. Thus no student 
or teacher can do his best work under conditions of 
bodily discomfort. 

There are at any rate four things connected with 
the schoolroom which will contribute to bodily com- 
fort: 1. Comfortable seats. 2. Proper temper- 
ature. 3. Proper ventilation. 4. Proper lighting. 

Not only from hygienic reasons, but from reasons 
of school government should the seats be of proper 
pattern, and well adapted to the age and size of pupils 
who use them. The demand for seats adapted to the 
individual students who use them will sooner or later 
bring adjustable seats into the schoolroom. The 
need of them has been felt in the past, but school 
officers have objected to them on the grounds that 
they are not substantially made and that they cost 
too much. Both these objections will in time be over- 
come. 

Every schoolroom should have a thermometer 
liung about four feet from the floor in some part of 
the room where the air would be at an average tem- 
perature with that in the room as a whole, and the 
mercury should be kept as nearly as possible at from 
68° to 72°, Fahrenheit. If the temperature is below 
this, some one will be uncomfortable from cold; and 
if the temperature is above this, some one will be un- 
comfortable with heat. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 193 

Plenty of pure fresh air admitted to the school- 
room in such a way that no one, teacher or pupil, will 
be subjected to draughts is certainly essential to 
comfort, and since essential to comfort, it becomes a 
question of school management as well as a question 
of school hygiene. One point here needs to be re- 
Iterated and emphasized, and that is, that air may be 
unfit to breathe and at the same time be cold. That the 
temperature of a room is 68° or below is absolutely no 
guarantee that the air in that room is pure enough to 
breathe. This is a truth that many janitors never 
learn. 

Bad lighting likewise induces bodily discomfort 
and so breaks up the unity. Plenty of light for all 
parts of the room should be admitted to the school- 
room at all times, and the main sources should be 
from the pupil's back and left. In order that there 
may be plenty of light in all parts of the room the 
relation between floor space and window pane space 
should be 4 to 1; that is, there should be not less than 
one square foot of window pane to every four square 
feet of floor space. This relation should obtain when 
there are no obstructions to prevent the free passage 
of light. If buildings, trees, or anything of the kind 
obstruct the free passage of the light, there should 
be more than one square foot of window pane to four 
square feet of floor space. 

The seating, heating, ventilating, and lighting of 
schoolrooms have usually been studied from the 



194 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

hygienic standpoint, but they also deserve study 
from the viewpoint of school management. 

Minimizing Diverting Influences. — Any influence 
which takes the pupil's attention away from his 
school work is a diverting influence, and whatever 
removes influences that take the pupil's attention, 
from his school work is a condition of unity. The 
schoolroom evidently shuts out many influences which 
would attract the pupil's attention, and thus divert 
him. Some schoolrooms are however so situated that 
all sorts of sights and sounds are continually attract- 
ing the attention of the pupils. The writer has taught 
in a schoolroom near a railroad upon which as many 
as four or five heavily loaded trains would pass during 
one recitation period. Just so many times was the 
unity of the recitation broken. Again, a schoolroom 
situated near a paved street will often have the unity 
between the teacher and pupils broken by the rat- 
tling of vehicles upon this street. These points are 
worth consideration in choosing a location for school 
buildings. 

It is upon the school premises and within the 
schoolroom in particular though that distracting in- 
fluences may be minimized. These influences are 
those which divert through: 1. Touch. 2. Sight. 
3. Hearing. 

Touch. — The law against diverting influences 
through touch demands that all pencils, knives, un- 
necessary books, fruit, toys, pencil cases, etc., except 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 195 

those in actual use, should be removed from desks. 
If such things are left on the desk they are a constant 
challenge to the student to touch them, and as such 
under any ordinary circumstances will be handled by 
the students. 

This law also demands single seats, and estimates 
especially their superiority over double seats. 

Sight. — It is imperative that all unnecessary 
sights be removed from the attention of the students. 
Hence the law against students passing from one part 
of the room to another; to the water bucket; to and 
from the stove; against any unusual arrangement of 
school furniture. 

Hearing. — The law against distracting influences 
through hearing demands quiet in the schoolroom. 
This is such an important point in school management 
that special study needs to be given to it. 

From a mistaken idea that to demand quiet in the 
schoolroom is to rob children of their freedom, some 
teachers not only permit but advocate an intolerable 
amount of noise in their schools. The error of this 
doctrine should be made as clear as possible to every 
teacher because of the mischief ensuing from it. 

Dr. Arnold Tompkins exposes weU its pedagog- 
ical unsoundness in the following: ''Most effective 
of all means of diverting the attention is noise. Si- 
lence must be the law of the schoolroom. The noise 
of whispering, studying, fixing fires, walking, loud 
talk of the teacher, etc., must be gotten rid of. It is 



196 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

quite common for the teacher to make more noise than 
all the pupils together. A teacher should speak in 
subdued tones, and move about too quietly to attract 
notice. He should so address a class during recita- 
tion that the pupils studying are not compelled to 
listen. Pencils should be sharpened at recess; and 
slate frames covered, or slates abolished for note- 
books. 

I know it has been often urged that a noisy 
schoolroom is a sign of energy and activity, of in- 
dustry and hard work; that the working beehive must 
hum. This sounds very well till we reflect that it is 
physical energy and activity that makes the noise; 
there is no mental analogy. Rather it is the reverse; 
the greater the mental activity the greater the silence. 
The boy who thinks is not necessarily noisy, but 
necessarily silent. All professional students seek a 
silent retreat as the best condition for mental labor. 
This doctrine of a noisy school arises from two classes 
of teachers, — those who can not secure silence and 
seek an escape through the theory; and those who 
champion in good faith the plea for freedom on the 
part of the pupil, — or as it seems to some, a plea for 
license." 

Since the child has such a superabundance of 
energy which seeks to discharge itself in muscular 
activity, it is almost an impossibility for him to keep 
quiet long at a time. This truth together with the 
law of silence for the schoolroom demands short 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 197 

school hours with frequent intermissions and rest 
periods in which an opportunity is given for muscular 
activity. Marches, drills, and other forms of physical 
exercise are a powerful means in maintaining silence 
in the schoolroom if interspersed between the periods 
of mental work. 

Conditions of Unity betiveen the Learner's Real and 
Ideal Self.— It may be reiterated that there is unity 
between the pupil's real and ideal self when each act 
he puts forth helps to fix in him habits of wisdom and 
virtue. If each act would do so, this would be ideal 
growth in self-realization. 

The highest aim of the school is to induce actions 
by the pupil that will constantly uplift him, and give 
him the ability to inhibit those which would degrade 
him, that the growth brought about by these activities 
may crystallize into character whose elements are 
wisdom and virtue. But this would be nothing more 
than unity between the learner's real and ideal self . 

The conditions of this unity are at any rate four: 
1. Pure motives. 2. Right ideas of life. 3. Incen- 
tives. 4. Social influences. 

Pure Motives. — Pure motives mean one^s intentions 
to do good in his actions. 

The one who habitually intends to do good in his 
actions is much more likely to do the things which 
will constantly further him toward wisdom and virtue, 
than the one who frequently does things with bad 
intent. Of course one may make mistakes, but on 



198 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

the whole pure motives prove a very potent condition 
in maintaining the unity between the learner's real 
and ideal self. 

That the teacher may lead the student to look into 
his own mind and make inquiries about his motives is 
a thought worthy of attention, too. In this way the 
teacher may help the pupils in establishing this very 
important condition of unity. 

Right Ideas of Life. — One's ideas of anything al- 
ways determine very largely what his actions are 
toward that thing. Therefore, the pupil must have 
right ideas of life, otherwise he can not attain to right 
living. If the pupil can be made to see and feel fer- 
vently that, when all things are considered, there is 
but one thing in general in life worth living for, 
namely, a high type of wise and virtuous manhood or 
womanhood, one very essential condition of unity be- 
tween his real and ideal self exists. 

What an opportunity here for the teacher who is 
himself what his students should become, to help 
students to start right in life. The teacher must have 
thought out what life's success consists in, it is true, 
before he can inspire students to hunger and thirst 
after righteousness. 

Right ideas of life and conduct are certainly a 
Yery important condition of unity between the learn- 
er 's real and ideal self. 

Incentives. — Incentives are stimuli to urge to ac- 
tivity. Strictly speaking an incentive is always a 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 199 

desire for something, but the thing which arouses the 
desire is also frequently called the incentive. As 
such, are class grades, class honors, per cents, 
prizes, etc. 

Incentives may be divided into two classes: 1. 
Natural. 2. Artificial. 

Natural Incentives. — Natural incentives are de- 
sires for those effects which in the nature of things 
result from the deed; as the Tcnoivledge and mental 
growth which result from conscientious study. 

The one great natural incentive is the mind^s inherent 
desire for progress. The soul awakes to consciousness 
with the desire for progress as its deepest and 
strongest trait. This passion of the soul for knowl- 
edge and righteousness, this desire for progress is 
man's distinctive mark. 

"Progress, man's distinctive mark alone, 

Not God's, and not the beasts'; God is, they are, 

Man partly is, and wholly hopes to be." 

This characteristic of the mind, mental hunger , is 
called wonder in psychology. Thus wonder is the 
mind's natural incentive. It has produced science 
and philosophy. 

All natural incentives are good for they stimulate 
the learner to natural, healthy endeavor. 

Artificial Incentives. — Artificial incentives, as the 
name implies, are incentives which do not naturally 
result from the deed. For instance, a parent might 
pay his child for learning his spelling lesson. The 



200 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

child would thus be stimulated to learn spelling lessons 
from his desire for money. The incentive is un- 
natural, for a quantity of money is not a natural 
result of the action. Thus, examinations, per cents, 
class honors, prizes, etc., come under the head of 
artificial incentives. 

Artificial incentives are at the best of doubtful 
utility. While they may do some good, the evils re- 
sulting from them probably outweigh by far this good. 
The best educators in the land condemn them 
strongly. 

"The use of such means necessarily kills the 
desire to know, which is immoral because killing 
the soul itself. When a teacher, in good faith that 
the natural process of learning is its own sufficient 
reward, begins to instruct pupils who have been 
under the artificial stimulus of the per cent, system, 
he finds them to be indifferent to legitimate appeals, 
and ready to affirm that school life is not worth living 
without the usual excitement and strife for per cent. 
What hope for such pupils after the days of formal 
instruction ! The severest criticism that can be made 
on school work is to show that students after gradu- 
ation have not a burning desire to pursue a systematic 
course of study and improvement. The use of false 
incentives is not the only reason for this; but it is 
largely chargeable to formal methods of instruction 
which necessitates artificial incentives, which further 
render instruction dead and formal. By this process 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 201 

the pupil, if not becoming positively averse to study,, 
feels satisfied and self-sufficient, and having no foreign 
incentive now offered, he is under no compulsion ta 
further labor. If study means a contest with ponder- 
able per centable packages of knowledge, how play 
the game when there is no one to estimate and umpire? 
If the school is to determine to a future life of study, 
the motives appealed to and cultivated in school must 
be the same as those employed in the natural, health- 
ful course of life out of school. '* 

*'The abiding passion of the soul is for knowl- 
edge, and all the teacher can properly do is to take 
this fact fairly and at its worth. The passion he may 
stimulate, make definite, and attach to the proper 
objects; but he can not introduce a substitute without 
weakening the life-giving connection between the 
pupil learning and the object being learned. " 

Social Influences. — The child is by nature a social 
being, and will live in society after leaving school. In 
the school in many instances he first begins to learn 
his duties with respect to others. In all cases the 
pupil first begins to come fully into the understand- 
ing of what it means to live in a society of his equals. 
In the family the student begins to learn something 
of living in society, but it is in the school that he first 
meets with the conditions of society in anything like 
those in which he will be required to live later. The 
school forms a transition from the family to the com- 
plex social life of the community. Here the pupil 



202 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

learns something of the difference between doing as 
he pleases and doing so as to uplift himself and at the 
same time help those around him. In the school are 
good opportunities for learning habits of politeness, 
toleration, charity, order, truthfulness, justice, and 
industry. But all of this is unity between the learn- 
er's real and ideal self. Thus social influence is one 
of the conditions of unity between the real and ideal 
self. 

Broken Unity. — In the best regulated schools there 
will be cases of broken unity. This may happen in 
any of the following ways: 1. Through ignorance. 
2. Through neglect. 3. Through thoughtlessness. 
4. Through willfulness. If the child does not know 
that it is a violation of unity to come to school late, 
and comes in late, it is a case of broken unity through 
ignorance. If, however, he knows it is wrong, but 
neglects to start in time, it is a case of broken unity 
by neglect. If the learner thoughtlessly plays with 
the ink well on his desk, and thus breaks the unity by 
the noise made, it is a case of broken unity through 
thoughtlessness. If a student purposely insults one 
of his fellow students or the teacher, he willfully 
breaks the unity of the school. 

Since prevention is better than cure, the main 
aim in school government is in preventing broken 
unity. This is to be done by establishing conditions 
for unity and eliminating those unfavorable to unity. 
This consists first and at all times in establishing a 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 203 

sentiment in the lives of students in favor of those 
things conducive to unity and against those things 
unfavorable to unity. 

Restoration of Unity. — When unity in any way in 
school is broken it must be restored. The ideal con- 
dition would be to have the school in such an attitude that 
the unity would he voluntarily restored by the one who 
broke it. And if students have in mind (1) the nature 
of the school; (2) the source and nature of the law of 
the school; and (3) have the proper sentiment toward 
school behavior, the unity in most cases, when broken, 
will be spontaneously and voluntarily restored. But 
since such conditions can not always be maintained, 
it must at times be restored through the influence of 
the teacher as an agent. 

The teacher's work in restoring unity becomes a 
not difficult task when the conditions insisted on all 
along in these studies have been established in school. 
Confidential talks with students in which the teacher 
in a kind and sympathetic manner calls attention to 
the offense and the way to correct it may be used 
with lasting and beneficent results. Often nothing 
is necessary but to call the student's attention to the 
misbehavior. However, obstinate cases arise which 
can not be passed by lightly, and this suggests the 
question of school punishments. 

School Punishments. — This is the most delicate as 
well as the most disagreeable feature of the teacher's 
work. It requires a great deal of discretion, patience, 



204: STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

sympathy, and good sense to punish at all success > 
fuUy. 

It should be remembered that punishment in 
school has the following two purposes: 

1. To restore broken unity. 

2. To prevent broken unity in the future. 

And punishment which fails in either or both of these 
things is not an entire success, but it may easily be 
an entire failure. If by punishment the teacher, by 
arousing anger, antagonism, and bad feeling, causes 
more unity to be broken than restored, the school 
would have fared better without the administering of 
punishment. 

The teacher must not punish for revenge, or with. 
a vindictive spirit. Punishment must be reformative 
and preventative, not vindictive. Plato was right 
when he said only the unreasonable fury of a brute 
toould punish vindictively. If the teacher finds him- 
self angry, and it is admitted that occasions for 
justifiable anger arise in school, he will gain an im- 
portant victory by not acting till his anger subsides. 
He will often save a good many heartaches and 
regrets, too. 

No recipes can be given for particular cases, but 
the study of nature's punishments enables us to state 
the following general rule, which is always safe to 
follow: The punishment should be what in the nature of" 
things follows as a result of the offense. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. 205 

The only difficulty with the guidance which this 
rule furnishes in school punishments is that of de- 
termining what the natural result of the offense is. 
At times it is very difficult to determine what 
naturally follows as a result of the offense. But in a 
large number of cases this rule gives absolutely safe 
guidance. 

Illustration. — If a student spills water on the 
floor of the schoolroom through carelessness, the 
natural thing is to have him clean it up. If again a 
student by making noise disturbs a certain part of 
the room, the natural punishment is removal from 
that part of the room. 

Corporal Punishment. — Corporal punishment is 
punishment of the body, as by whipping, beating, etc. 

The tendency in school government is to discard 
it entirely. Some cities do not tolerate it at all in 
their schools. It is, to say the best for it, the device 
of the teacher who is not sufficiently wise to see a 
better way. That a better way exists is not doubted 
by those who have carefully studied the problem. It 
is a noticable fact that the most skillful teachers 
everywhere have the least use for corporal punish- 
ment, while the least skillful resort to it most. 

If our teachers were all wise enough, and if 
school conditions were what they should be, no doubt 
corporal punishment could be abolished in school 
entirely; but with existing conditions it does seem 
that it is not entirely wise to wholly condemn and 



206 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

forbid its use. However it should be remembered 
that it is the device of the unskillful, and the ignorant, 
and is to be used only when all other means have been 
exhausted. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 

The Teaching Act. — The school exists as an organ- 
ization in order that the most favorable conditions 
may be furnished for the act of teaching. It is in 
this act that the mind of the pupil comes into vital 
touch with the mind of the teacher. Here the miracle 
of the influence of one mind upon another is mani- 
fested. Here it is that the most important duty of the 
teacher is involved. To this process all other processes 
of the school point. The school finds the idea that 
created it in the process of realization in the teaching 
act. The act of teaching is a process for it is a series 
of steps directed toward the accomplishment of an 
end. The teaching act is not a simple process for it 
is a large process made up of smaller processes. 

The Processes in It. — A brief analysis of the teach- 
ing act will show that there are three processes going 
on in it, — (1) the thinking the learner is doing; (2) 
the thinking the teacher is doing; (3) a process of 
handling questions, directions, objects, assignments, 
and so on — the manipulation of means in teaching. 
The first two of these processes are spiritual, or 
mental, processes, and the third is external to both 



208 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

the mind of the teacher and the pupil and is a physical 
process. 

Illustration. — In teaching the definition of a noun 
to a student, first, the student's mind goes through 
the process of thinking (1) that the noun is a sub- 
stantive word; and (2) that it expresses an object by 
naming it. This is the process in the mind of the 
student in the teaching act. Secondly, the teacher 
thinks these same points through with the student, 
but he thinks several other things, too. This is the 
spiritual process of the teacher in the teaching act. 
Thirdly, there is a process of asking questions, illus- 
trating, possibly referring to text-books, etc., going 
on, and this is the physical process in the teaching 
act. 

Nature of Method as a Subject of Study. — The ques- 
tion, What is the subject of method like? is often 
asked. It may be answered in a general way by say- 
ing it is a subject of study the pursuit of which has 
for its special object to make teachers more skillful 
in teaching than they would be without such study. 
But this much might be said of any pedagogical 
study — of psychology, for instance. To be more 
definite, method as a subject is that study which 
deals with the three processes in the act of teaching 
as indicated above. These three processes in their 
various phases constitute the material of all study in 
the subject of method. 

The Subject-matter of Method.— By subject-matter 
is meant the material of study in any subject or lesson. 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 209 

It is the thought and feeling embodied in any subject 
or lesson which are to be got from such subject or 
lesson by study. It always consists of facts and 
relations among such facts. So the subject-matter of 
method, as a subject of study, is the three processes, one 
in the mind of the learner, one in the mind of the teacher, 
and one a physical process, in their relation to the growth 
in the life of the learner. 

Definition of Method. — Method is thus seen to be a 
complex and comprehensive thing. Any definition to 
be perfectly accurate, must include the various phases 
of these three processes. The following, it seems, 
does this: Method is the triple process in the act of 
teaching by tvhich the learner is induced to take the steps 
from his real condition to a higher condition held up as 
an ideal. This is the definition of method considered 
in its broadest and most comprehensive sense, and 
the sense in which its study will give the most help 
to the teacher. 

Classes of Method. — Since there are three proc- 
esses going on in the teaching act there are, in a 
sense, three methods, — the learner's method, the 
teacher's method, and physical method. These three 
will be studied somewhat in detail. 

The Learner's Method. — The learner's method is 
the movement of his mind in gaining any point of 
knowledge. The pupil's method is thus a living, 
spiritual process internal to his life. Method from 
this point of view is mental growth. That is to say, 



210 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

it is the change of potential mental activity into actual 
mental activity, and this is the essence of growth. 

Illustration. — If the child learns in a number 
lesson that 8 -f- 7 = 15, the activity of his mind in 
thinking the following steps is his method: (1) the 
mind rethinks the number 8; (2) the mind rethinks 
the number 7; (3) the mind thinks the number 8 and 
7 together; (4) the mind thinks the name of the new 
number. These four steps are the mind's process in 
thinking the point of knowledge, and are, therefore, 
the mind's method. This phase of method calls 
attention to the fact that the thing to be watched and 
emphasized in teaching is the change in the learner's 
life by which he is constantly rising to a higher plane 
of living. 

Definition of the Learner's Method, — The learner's 
method may be characterized by the following defi- 
nitions: 

1. The learner's method is the process of the 
learner's mind in learning a thing. 

2. The learner's method is the movement by 
which his mind identifies itself with the thought and 
feeling of the external world. 

3. The learner's method is the mental activity 
by which his mind makes the objective the subjective. 
The objective means the external world, and the 
subjective means the self. And the self means one's 
original capacity to know, to feel, and to will, plus the 
effect of one's experiences on this capacity. 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 211 

4. The learner's method is the process in which 
his mind goes from its real condition to an ideal con- 
dition. One's real condition is his condition just as 
he is at any time. His ideal condition is one different 
from what he is in at any time, and which actually 
has no existence except as an idea in the mind; hence 
the name ideal. The ideal condition is not necessarily 
a better condition than the real, but may be either a 
better or worse condition. 

The Teacher's Method. — The teacher's method is 
the thinking he does in teaching a thing. The teacher 's 
method is a very important topic of study in the sub- 
ject of method. It must be thoroughly understood 
by one who is to succeed best. 

First, the teacher must think the thought in the 
point or points to be taught; that is, he must think 
the subject-matter. Secondly, he must see in terms 
of development of the learner's life the reasons for 
teaching the subject-matter; that is, he must see the 
purpose. Thirdly, the teacher must see the nearest 
related knowledge possessed by the learner which he 
can use as a foundation to build upon in teaching the 
new point; that is, he must see the basis. Fourthly, 
the teacher must see the activities the learner's mind 
puts forth in mastering the points of truth in the 
subject-matter; that is, he must see the steps. Lastly, 
the teacher must see the means he may best employ 
in leading the mind of the learner to take the steps in 
mastering the subject-matter; that is, the teacher 



212 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

must think out the devices. Thus the teacher in 
teaching a lesson must think (1) the subject-matter; 
(2) the purpose; (3) the basis; (4) the steps; and (5) 
the devices. These five things every teacher does in 
some sort of way in teaching every lesson. Some 
think them out clearly and accurately, and some think 
them out scarcely at all, and do not know that they 
do even that much. A teacher can think the teaching 
of a single point, or of a whole lesson, or of a whole 
subject, under these five heads, and must do so with 
more or less accuracy in teaching. It is worth our 
while to study these five points further for the help 
the study will give. 

Subject-matter.— In a general way the subject- 
matter is that which is to be mastered by study. It 
Is the thought embodied in the thing studied by the 
mind of the learner. In a particular lesson the sub- 
ject-matter is just that to be got from the lesson 
which the learner should have after the recitation. 
In a particular subject, as grammar or history, the 
subject-matter is just that to be got from the subject 
which the learner should be in possession of after the 
study of the subject. In this general sense the sub- 
ject-matter of education is the whole world of thought. 
This study is too general to be most helpful. A 
closer study will reveal the fact that every subject- 
matter is composed of two things: (1) The facts to 
be taught. (2) The relation in which these facts are 
to be taught or studied. 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 213 

Illustration, — Suppose the words, inquiry y dis. 
course, and aspirant are to be taught. Now, a spelling 
lesson might be made of it; and if it were a spelling 
lesson, the subject-matter would be, the words, in- 
quiry, discourse, and aspirant, as to their correct 
written or printed forms. Thus the words, inquiry, 
discourse, and aspirant are the facts to be taught or 
studied, and ''as to their correct written or printed 
form " indicates the relation in which they are to be 
taught or studied. But these same facts might be 
used, and the lesson not be a spelling lesson at alL 
If the relation in which they are to be studied or 
taught is as to their correct pronunciation the lesson 
would be one in orthoepy, and the subject-matter 
would be, the words, inquiry, discourse, and aspirant 
as to their correct pronunciation. 

Further Illustration. — Suppose the facts of the 
revolution of the earth around the sun are taught, 
who can say whether the lesson is one in astronomy 
or one in geography? If, however, these are taught 
in their relation to the distribution of life, climate 
and relief forms on the earth's surface, the lesson at 
once reveals itself as a geography lesson. From these 
illustrations it is to be seen that a subject-matter 
consists of (1) the facts to be taught or studied; and 
(2) the relation in which these facts are to be con- 
sidered. This relation is often called the organizing 
principle of the subject-matter. 

General Statement of Subject-matter. — The state- 
ment of subject-matter is not the subject-matter any 



214 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

more than a word is an idea, or a sentence a thought. 
The statement of the subject-matter bears the same 
relation to the subject-matter that the word bears to 
the idea and that the sentence bears to the thought; 
that is, the statement bears the same relation to the 
subject-matter that the symbol does to the thing 
symbolized. 

The general statement of a subject-matter is very 
valuable to a teacher, whether it be of a single lesson, 
or of a whole subject. It is helpful to the teacher 
because it must do two things: (1) it must name the 
facts to be taught, and (2) it must tell the relation in 
which these facts are to be taught. Thus the general 
statement of the subject-matter of any subject is a 
perennial guide to the teacher in teaching that sub- 
ject, in that it shows, in a general way, what to teach 
and in what relation (how) to teach it. 

Purpose. — Purpose in reality is beginning and 
end in every process. The purpose as idea — the be- 
ginning — moves forward in the process to its reali- 
zation — the end. The purpose exists in the teacher's 
mind, but it is to be realized in the life of the learner. 
The purpose is the effect the mastery of the subject- 
matter should have on the life of the child. In actual 
teaching the teacher is to go from the subject-matter 
by way of comparison of the effect the thinking the 
subject-matter has on his own mind to its effect on 
the child's life, which is the purpose. That is to say, 
there is no way to tell the purpose of the subject- 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 215 

matter except from the effect its mastery produces 
on the child's life. The course of study — the subject- 
matter — is usually provided for the teacher. So the 
teacher must start with the subject-matter and find 
out the purpose in teaching it. Much depends in the 
teaching act upon how well the teacher does this. If 
the teacher has definitely in mind just what he wants 
to do in the lesson he will be drawn steadily and 
constantly toward its accomplishment. A definite 
purpose saves time, economizes energy, emphasizes 
the important, organizes, and prevents aimless wan- 
dering. 

It will be seen that in teaching any lesson there 
are two phases of the purpose: (1) to give knowledge 
valuable for guidance in living; (2) to give mental 
discipline; that is, to furnish a mental gymnastic to 
the end that the mind may grow strong by exercising 
it. 

Basis. — This is the learner's nearest related 
knowledge to the new points to be taught, and upon 
which the teacher may build in teaching the new 
point. Basis is an important point in teaching. Many 
errors are made in teaching because the learner has 
not basis for learning the new point, or because the 
teacher does not see the basis. Teaching in harmony 
with the principle underlying basis, the mind naturally 
goes to the unknown from the nearest related Tcnoivn, 
means a progressive development of a subject, each 
step becoming basis for the step succeeding it. There 



216 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

are many violations of basis in teaching, as often 
done. 

Illustration. — If the lesson to be taught is that 
5 -f- 4 = 9, the child must know the number 5 and 
the number 4 as basis before he could learn that 5 + 
4 = 9. If the teacher should attempt to teach this 
lesson without having taught the numbers 5 and 4 he 
would meet with the difficulty of insufficient basis. 
Again, if a teacher attempts to teach the noun to a 
class without the class having a definite knowledge of 
an object, he will most surely meet a difficulty in the 
basis. The teacher to teach well must see and choose 
definitely his basis. 

Steps. — Steps are more or less complete move- 
ments of the mind. They are mental things and in 
the teaching act are in the life of the learner. They 
are the advances of the mind in mastering the sep- 
arate points of the lesson to be learned. Or in a 
more general sense they are the advances of the mind 
in mastering the various phases of a subject. 

Illustration. — If the lesson to be taught were that 
17 — 8 = 9, the steps would be: 1. The advance of 
the mind in rethinking the number 17. 2. The ad- 
vance of the mind in rethinking the number 8. 3. 
The advance of the mind in thinking the number 9 as 
remainder. Again, if the lesson were, to teach the 
definition of the triangle, after examining several 
triangles, the steps would be: 1. The advance of 
the mind in thinking a triangle is a figure. 2. The 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT,— METHOD. 217 



advance of the mind in thinking a triangle has three 
sides. 3. The advance of the mind in thinking a 
triangle has three angles. 4. The advance of the 
mind in synthesizing these points in the definition, A 
triangle is a figure having three sides and three angles. 

To know the steps the mind takes in working out 
any new lesson is a matter of much importance to the 
teacher. He must know something of the steps or 
he cannot teach at all; and, other things equal, the 
more clearly the teacher has thought out the steps, 
the better will he teach the lesson. 

Devices. — The devices are the various things used 
by the teacher to lead the mind of the learner to think 
and feel in the manner desired. A synonym for 
devices is the term means. Devices, or means, con- 
stitute a very important factor in teaching. There is 
opportunity for the exercise of rare judgment, tact, 
and skill in the selection of devices. When it is 
understood that questions, text-books, and reference 
books, maps, globes, and school apparatus in general; 
blocks, sticks, etc., are devices in teaching, some- 
thing of their importance in school work becomes 
evident. Devices are so important that among many, 
method means nothing more than the manipulation of 
devices. However important they are it must not be 
lost sight of that they are always determined in the 
light of the mental process they are to induce. They 
are means to an end, and in nature the end is always 
more important than the means. 



218 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Method as a Physical Process. — It is, perhaps, using 
the term method in its most popular significance to 
think of it as meaning some physical process external 
to the life of the learner. That is to say, it is using 
the term in the sense in which most persons com- 
monly use it in speaking and writing. This idea of 
method is the one usually held by persons who have 
not made any careful study of what the term really 
ought to mean. There is a sort of indefiniteness in 
the minds of such persons as to just what they do 
mean by method. However, upon examination it will 
be found usually that the idea that method is the 
manner of doing some physical thing prevails, though 
even this is held in mind more or less vaguely. From 
thinking of method in this sense we have the following 
terms; "Object Method, " ''Concert Method, " ''Con- 
secutive Method," "Promiscuous Method," "Lecture 
Method," "Socratic Method," and "Laboratory 
Method." 

These all refer to the manipulation of objects, 
questions, and answers in the teaching act, and so 
are to be studied briefly under method as a physical 
process. 

The Object Method. — By this is meant the handling 
of objects by teacher and pupils in the process of 
teaching. It is a good line of work, if used judicious- 
ly. It has its proper place in teaching number work 
primary reading, nature study, primary geography, 
and primary language. 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 219 

The Concert Method. — ^The concert method means 
having students to answer questions, read, and speak 
simultaneously in the recitation. There is much that 
may be said against concert work, but very little to 
be said for it. It is objectionable because it (1) 
violates the law of self -activity; (2) stifles individual 
effort and individual responsibility; (3) does not bring 
out clear, definite answers or thinking; and (4) leads 
to confusion, disorder, and chaotic class work. There 
may possibly be instances in which concert work 
may be used advantageously, but as a rule it should 
iDe avoided. 

The Consecutive Method. — The consecutive method 
of asking and answering in the recitation means be- 
ginning at some point, the head of the class, or at the 
name beginning with A, and proceeding in some 
regular order back to the point of starting. In pro- 
ceeding in recitation this way the students know 
pretty well when the "turn" of each one will come. 
This method, like the preceding one, has many things 
against it, but little to recommend it. It is objection- 
able because it leads to (1) habits of inattention; (2) 
disorder and disorganization of the class; (3) habits of 
idleness; and (4) bad methods of study. However 
good a student may be, if, when he has answered a 
question, he knows to a certainty that he will not be 
called upon again for some time, the tendency is for 
him to relax his attention. If the student is not a 
^ood one, the tendency in this kind of work is for him 



220 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

to become worse, and since he is not called upon ta 
attend closely he is prone to do something else, there- 
by causing disorder and disorganization. Idleness 
in the class is a direct result of inattention, and bad 
habits of study result from the student's being able 
to prepare just those points in the lesson which he 
has reckoned will come to him. 

Promiscuous Method. — The promiscuous method 
of asking questions and receiving answers refers to 
distributing the questions and receiving answers 
from students promiscuously. No student knows to 
whom the answer to the question will fall. This 
method unlike the two preceding has much to be said 
for it and little or nothing against it. It is desirable 
because (1) it fosters habits of attention and concen- 
tration; (2) it is flexible and gives the teacher the best 
opportunities for meeting the needs of individual 
students; (3) it fosters habits of order and organiza- 
tion in the class work; and (4) it tends to industrious 
habits, and right methods of study. By the use of 
the promiscuous method students are held constantly 
to attending to the question under consideration, to 
the careful preparation of the lesson as a whole, and 
to order and unity in the class. As a rule, the pro- 
miscuous method is certainly the best for class work. 

Lecture Method. — The lecture method refers to 
teaching by means of talks, or lectures. This method, 
perhaps, has its advantages and disadvantages. It is 
certainly not adapted to all kinds of school work, and 



THE PRCX:!ESS IN THE TEACHING ACT,— METHOD. 221 

probably not adapted to any kind of school work if 
used exclusively. There are, however, some phases 
of school work which may be taught profitably by 
talks, or lectures. To elementary school work the 
lecture method is not at all adapted, and but very 
poorly adapted to secondary school work. In the 
first eight years of the child's school life he must be 
taught differently than by this method. That stays 
with the child which he has an opportunity to see, 
hear, and think about. This, however, is not to be 
construed to mean that oral teaching should not 
be done in primary history, primary geography, 
nature work, etc. If the lecture method has any 
legitimate place in school work it is in the coUege and 
university. However it may seem theoretically, it 
remains a fact that those things which are digged out 
by the student, recited upon in the class, and dis- 
cussed by questions and answers are the things which 
in the end stay with him and do him good. Certainly 
the lecture method in the average teacher's school 
work is, to say the least, to be used sparingly, and 
-with much caution when used at all. 

The Socratic Method. — This method takes its name 
from Socrates, a Greek philosopher and teacher, born 
469 B. C. It is sometimes called the developing 
method. It proceeds by the employment of subtle 
questions to lead the student to think what it is de- 
sired for him to think without telling him anything. 
*'The Socratic method, more or less perfectly under- 



222 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

stood, has had great influence upon professional 
pedagogy. In many schools for the professional 
training of teachers, and in many schools in charge 
of teachers professionally trained, systematic ques- 
tioning of this sort is looked upon as ideal teaching; 
and there is no lack of conscientious endeavor to 
prepare for use in recitation, series of questions which 
shall lead the child's mind to take the logical steps 
which given occasion requires. One who doubts the 
value of such systematic questioning may usually be 
converted by hearing a single typical recitation con- 
ducted by a master of the art. The power of such a 
recitation to touch, move, chasten and direct the soul 
is so evident, that if Socrates and Plato had taught us 
nothing but how to do such work their fame as 
teachers would be justified." It is noteworthy that 
the ''Socratic Method" is diametrically opposed to 
the "Lecture Method." 

The Laboratory Method. — This is also often called 
the '* Scientific Method," or ''Inductive Method, "and 
it means a procedure in which the student is lead to 
investigate and think for himself. It is opposed to 
taking things on mere authority without investiga- 
tion, and to the text-book method. It proceeds by 
leading the student to deal with the actual material of 
study rather than to deal with what some one has 
said about it. In botany, studied in this way, the 
student deals with plants; in zoology, with animals; in 
grammar, with sentences and parts of sentences. 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT,— METHOD. 22S 

This method has much to recommend it. 1. It fosters 
habits of free inquiry and free investigation. 2. It 
is the mind's natural way of learning. 3. It makes 
the student self-directive and self-helpful. 4. It 
fixes with the student right methods of study. 5. It 
gives the student a critical attitude of mind. All 
these are very desirable characteristics for a student 
to have. 

Comparison of Teacher^ s and PupiVs Method. — 
These two methods are alike as follows: 1. They 
are both spiritual processes. 2. The mind of the 
learner and the mind of the teacher in general go 
through the same process in thinking the thing to be 
learned. 3. Both the teacher and the pupil keep in 
mind to some extent the purpose of the process in the 
teaching act. 

These two methods are different as follows: 1. 
The teacher, in addition to thinking the truths to be 
learned, must think the learner's thinking of them. 
2. The teacher must think out the means or devices 
to be used in leading the learner to think the desired 
points of truth. 3. While both the teacher and the 
pupil keep in mind the purpose, the teacher sees it 
definitely, or should do so, while the pupil only sees 
it vaguely. The teacher's method thus includes more 
than the learner's. 

Two Vieivs of Method.— The foregoing study sug- 
gests to us that there are two views of method. It is 
unfortunate that educational writers hold these twa 



224 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

views, as considerable confusion prevails because of 
this fact. One class of educators, those who have 
studied method least, mean by method simply the 
physical process in the act of teaching. A second 
class, those who have been special students of method, 
mean by method the triple process in the act of teach- 
ing. 

Comparison of the Two Views. — In our study of 
method we may call these two views respectively the 
popular vieiv and the special view. The popular view 
-will thus designate method as the manipulation of ex- 
ternal means, or devices, and the special view will 
designate method as the triple process. 

Thinking of method according to the popular view 
constantly places the mind's emphasis upon some- 
thing external to the life of the learner. This has in 
the past led to much that was bad in teaching and is 
still doing so. The teacher loses sight thus of the 
fact that it is in the learner's life that the educating 
process is to be carried on. He is prone to make the 
manipulating, the text-book, or some petty scheme 
of teaching an end instead of a means. Every ques- 
tion that arises concerning teaching must be settled 
in the light of the effect upon the life of the learner. 
The ultimate question is. How does it affect the life of 
the learner? The process in which the mind of the 
learner masters the new point of knowledge is 
the point of prime importance in the teaching act and 
the thing always to be emphasized in the study of the 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT,— METHOD. 225 

act of teaching. The popular view of method leads 
to almost hopeless confusion. Everyone holding this 
view who happens to use some different device, or 
means, in teaching calls it his method and gives it a 
name. Since there is an almost infinite number of 
devices which may be used, there thus arises an al- 
most infinite number of methods, which no teacher 
can or desires to keep informed upon. This leads to 
a hopelessly chaotic condition of things in the study 
of method. 

The popular view of method has lead to much dis- 
paragement of the study of method among persons 
who should be friendly to its study. These are often- 
times persons who are very good thinkers, but who 
have not given special study to method. It is a com- 
mon remark among this class of teachers that one 
may study method in a subject at the expense of a 
knowledge of that subject. The depreciating remarks 
made about method, which arise from the popular 
view of method, are a source of much harm to the 
profession of teaching. This is true, because many 
persons who would otherwise make a careful study 
of method and would receive the benefit that must 
come to the teacher thereby, are kept from beginning 
the study by this disparaging attitude on the part of 
some teachers. It may be safely said that there is 
need for no one thing among teachers more than an 
intensely professional spirit. It seems strange that 
some teachers take pleasure in saying depreciating 



226 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

things about method work. It is, however, probably 
to be explained from a misconception of method. I 
have never yet heard the first person speak depre- 
ciatingly of method, who had been a student of the 
subject. 

The special view may be proven to be the better 
view. This is the argument: A thing is good ac- 
cordingly as it realizes the purpose which brought it 
into existence. Method as a subject came into ex- 
istence to supply the want for something, the study 
of which would help the teacher to do better work in 
his daily teaching. Accordingly, that thing whose 
study helps the teacher most is the best. It has 
already been shown that the study of method as a 
triple process is more helpful to the teacher than the 
study of method as the manner of manipulating some 
external means, or device. Therefore, the special 
view is the better view of method. 

No Danger in Too 3Iioch Study. — It is not difficult 
to see that there is no danger of a teacher's devoting 
too much time to the study of method when one takes 
the proper view of method. The teacher can not 
study the process through which the mind goes in 
mastering any point of knowledge until he has the 
knowledge himself. For instance, the teacher can 
not see the mental steps the mind of the learner takes 
in learning the definition of an adjective without 
knowing the definition of an adjective himself. To 
know the method in teaching the definition of an 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 227 

adjective is to know two things: 1. The definition of 
an adjective. 2. The process the mind naturally 
employs in learning the definition of an adjective. 
No teacher can rationally and well teach the adjective 
who does not know both. 

Further Illustration. — In the teaching of history 
this point becomes quite evident. The teacher wha 
knows method in history knows these two things: 1. 
The events of mankind in their relation to the struggle 
of the race for higher life. That is to say, he must 
know history. 2. The natural processes of the mind 
in learning history. No teacher can teach history at 
all without a knowledge of the first, and it is equally 
clear to any person who will think, that no one can 
teach history well without a knowledge of the second. 

So this question reduces itself to the following: 
It is not possible for a teacher to study method too 
much, unless it is possible for a teacher to know 
too much about his subjects and to know too weU the 
mind's natural process in learning those subjects. 

Factors Determining MetJiod. — About twenty years 
ago one of the leading educators of this country said 
' ' The laio in the mind and the thought in the thing studied 
determine the method.^' This statement of this truth 
can not well be improved upon. It shows that the 
two following things are factors in determining 
the method to be pursued in teaching any subject 
whatever: 

1. The law in the mind. 



"228 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

2. The thought in the thing studied. 

That these two factors are the ones which deter- 
mine every rational method makes the above state- 
ment a universal truth. 

The Law in the Mind. — The law in the mind has 
reference to the general truths of mind — the forms of 
activity common to minds. 

Holding in mind that method is the triple activity 
in the process of teaching, it can easily be seen that 
this process must be largely what it is because of 
what the mind can do; that is, because of the laws 
governing mental activity. 

Again, the method would be different in teaching 
the same subject-matter to a child of eight and to an 
adult, because it is a law of the mind that the mind of 
the child of eight could sense-perceive, remember, 
and imagine accurately, but that he could not reason 
accurately, while the adult should be able to do so. 

The Thought in the Thing. — Each thing is the 
-embodiment of thought; that is, each thing in the uni- 
verse is capable of suggesting a thought to the mind. 
"Evangeline," the rose, the lily, is each the embodi- 
ment of thought. 

Again remembering what method is, it can read- 
ily be seen that the process is different in teaching 
different things, and so the method is different. 

The process in teaching the noun as to definition 
and in teaching *'Maud Muller" as to interpretation 
is widely different, because of the difference in the 



THE PROCESS IN THE TEACHING ACT, — METHOD. 229- 

thought embodied in them. And since method is 
the triple process in the act of teaching, the method 
is widely different, the cause of the difference being 
the difference in the thought in the two things. 

Thus these two things, the mind of the learner^ 
and the subject-matter, determine the method. 

The whole study of general method should em- 
phasize the truth that the essential thing in teaching is 
opening up the tvay for the realization of the child's in- 
herent possibilities. 

"Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise 
From outward things, whate'er you may believe^ 
There is an inmost center in us all, 
Where truth abides in fullness, and around, 
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in, 
******* ^j^(j ^Q know 

Rather consists in opening out a way 
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape, 
Than in effecting entry for a light 
Supposed to be without." 



CHAPTER X. 



THE RECITATION. 



The Nature of the Recitation, — The word, recitation ^ 
is of Latin origin and literally means a reading aloud. 
As the term is used now in connection with school 
work something of the literal meaning may be found 
in it. But there is more in the recitation as thought 
of now than the mere reading or speaking aloud. A 
written recitation might be conducted in which the 
original notion of the recitation is scarcely to be found 
at all. 

The recitation is the school process in which the 
learner rethinks what he has learned in previous 
study and communicates this to the teacher and his 
fellow students. This, however, is not all there is in 
the recitation, but constitutes a considerable part of 
the process. In addition to the student's process 
of rethinking and communicating to the teacher, and 
other students, what he has previously learned, there 
are in the recitation the suggestions^ tests, directions , 
and encouragement by the teacher. 

The recitation is the crowning process of school 
work. It is in the recitation more than in any other 
place that the learner is stimulated to the effort of 



THE RECITATION. 231 

learning. Good recitations are the test of good school 
work. 

Purposes of the Recitation, — The following are the 
purposes of the recitation: 

1. To furnish a process in which the mind of the 
learner and the mind of the teacher may come into 
living touch with each other. 

2. To test the learner on his preparation and 
understanding of the subject-matter of the lesson. 

3. To supplement the knowledge of the subject- 
matter the student has gained in his preparation. 

4. To give the learner the habit of right methods 
of study. 

5. To approve, encourage, inspire, and stimulate 
the learner in his work. 

Vital Touch of Learner ^s and Teacher^ s Mind. — In 
order that instruction may be most effective the mind 
of the learner must come under the influence of the 
mind of the teacher with conditions as favorable for 
learning as possible. This is needed that in the act 
of teaching the life of the teacher may come into 
closest touch with the life of the pupil. 

That the conditions may be the most favorable 
the class should recite in a room separate from that 
in which the school is accustomed to sit and study. 
Since this is not possible in so many schools, the next 
best thing is to have the pupils to occupy a position 
in the room as nearly isolated from the other students 
as possible. Separate recitation rooms, though, are 



232 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

always the best, for in them all diverting influences 
can be reduced to the minimum, and the conditions 
for learning be best maintained. 

Testing on the Preparation of the Lesson. — Good 
teaching requires that some definite thing be de- 
manded daily of the learner. And the requirement 
of tests on the preparation and understanding of what 
is demanded is imperative. The responsibility of 
getting up before the class and stating to the class 
and the teacher what he has learned is a constant 
spur to the student in his work. Negligence and 
looseness in study always result from the assignment 
of lessons upon which students never recite. There 
is no surer way to induce bad habits of study than to 
assign lessons and then not test students as to their 
preparation and understanding of these lessons. And 
the tendency is in this direction, even though one has 
the best students to be found. If students are not 
good there is nothing in such work to make them 
better, on the other hand they become worse. The 
responsibility of proper preparation is brought home 
to the student in no other way so well as in the class 
room at recitation. Every one knows how prone he 
is to neglect work which he has planned to do because 
of a lack of a definite responsibility. The tests in the 
recitation fix and maintain a definite responsibility. 

The testing to be most helpful must be accurate^ 
critical, and just. Students are often deceived in 
thinking they have prepared well their lessons when 



THE RECITATION. 23^ 

they have not, because the testing is poorly done in 
the recitation. It frequently happens that a student 
makes a recitation which is worth nearly nothing, 
but the teacher by smoothing it over and patching it- 
up makes the student think he has done something 
creditable. The student is thus misled and is per- 
fectly willing for the teacher to do the same thing^ 
again. If a student neglects to prepare his lesson, 
he should be brought face to face with his ignorance 
which might have been removed. 

Supplementing a Knotvledge of the Lesson. — It is 
not to be expected that the student will at all times- 
completely master the subject-matter of the lesson. 
Points more or less vague to the learner or of which 
he has obtained a wrong idea will often become clear 
and correct to him by recitations of other students 
and the illustrations of the teacher. And many times 
points which the student has not been able to work 
out will be cleared up to him upon the teacher 's asking 
him questions which lead to their solution. And 
again there are points which the student can get from 
no other source than from the teacher. These the 
teacher may give directly to the student and save 
time and guessing on his part. 

It has been stated as a principle of pedagogy that 
the teacher should never tell a student anything lohich he 
can find out for himself This statement emphasizes 
an important pedagogical truth, no doubt, for the 
tendency certainly is among teachers to tell students 



234 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

many things which they should be led to work out 
for themselves, as the easiest way out of it, when the 
•student fails to respond properly to a question. But 
to follow the principle literally would also lead to 
^rave errors. For instance, if a child were standing 
hj the fire and without his knowledge his clothes 
should catch fire, he would find it out without being 
told sooner or later. But no one would think of wait- 
ing for him to find it out so. 

One purpose of the recitation certainly is to sup- 
plement the knowledge the student gets from his 
preparation of the lesson. 

Giving an Insight into Bight Methods of Study. — It 
often happens that students are willing to prepare 
their lessons, but that they do not know how to study. 
The teacher has opportunity in the recitation in two 
ways to show the student how to study: 

1. He can show the student how to study by his 
requirements in the daily work of the recitation. If 
the student is constantly held accurately to the care- 
ful preparation of each point assigned, he will soon 
come to understand what it means to prepare a lesson; 
and from what is worked out on the separate points, 
he will see what is to be done with each point by way 
of preparation. 

2. In the recitation from time to time the teacher 
may take the points one by one and show the students 
just how to proceed in their preparation. This the 
teacher must do occasionally, if he would have 



THE RECITATION. 235 

his students use their time and energy to the best 
advantage. 

Approving, Encouraging, Inspiring, and Stimulat- 
ing. — Young people and old, too, are oftentimes 
gladdened by a word of approval. The teacher's op- 
portunity for approving of that v^orthy of approval, 
and disapproving of that not worthy of approval is a 
means in his hands of working much good. Teachers 
are too ready to disapprove of the bad and to let the 
meritorious pass by as if unnoticed. Every child is 
capable of something worthy, and should be made to 
feel so. Just approval in the recitation is a perfectly 
legitimate incentive, and may be used to do much 
good by the careful, sympathetic teacher. 

Pupils frequently have spells of despondency and 
discouragement in their school work. This comes 
about from extravagant ideas of what a pupil should 
accomplish, or a somewhat mistaken idea of native 
ability, etc. In the recitation the teacher has an 
opportunity to dispel the despondency and encourage 
by placing before the students healthful ideals of 
student life. 

The teacher by taking the soul's hunger at its 
worth and so teaching as to stimulate and quicken it 
has an opportunity to inspire the learner to a life of 
search for truth and righteousness. And the teacher 
who can so teach that his pupils will be inspired to 
study his subjects after leaving school, in the pursuit 
of wisdom and virtue, is a most successful teacher. 



286 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

The Law of the Recitation, — The law of the reel* 
tation is the same as the law of the school as a whole; 
that is, the law of unity. Without unity between the 
teacher and pupils the recitation could not exist, but 
it often actually exists with various degrees of unity. 
When the minds of all the students are following the 
mind of the teacher as the recitation progresses there 
is ideal unity. To approach this condition of things 
is always to be sought; and, other things equal, the 
recitation will be successful in the degree to which 
this is attained. Either the pupils or the teacher may 
break the law of unity in the recitation. 

The student may break it by failing to give atten- 
tion when he ought to do so. Whispering breaks the 
unity always, and while not in itself necessarily 
wrong, is a positive sin when engaged in during the 
recitation. It is to be deplored that there is a teacher 
in the land who can not see the question of whispering 
in school in its true light, and who does not set the 
stamp of disapproval upon it. It is absolutely inde- 
fensible as a practice. There are many other ways 
of breaking the unity of the recitation. 

The teacher may break the unity by conducting 
the recitation in such a way that there can not by any 
possibility be unity, as indicated by the following 
quotation: 

"Here is a picture taken from real life: School- 
room of two grades (seventh and eighth), of about 
twenty pupils each. Good teacher, as the world goes; 



THE RECITATION. 237 

lesson in denominate numbers by the seventh grade. 
Teacher directs one boy to pass to the board and 
solve the first problem; another the second; and so on 
till the ten problems are used. Then, commencing 
again with the first problem, re-assigns the ten prob- 
lems severally to the next ten pupils. A few pupils 
remain without work, and these are given selected 
problems to work at the desk, the board all being 
occupied. The teacher now steps back to talk to the 
visitor while waiting developments. Things always 
develop rapidly under such circumstances; and soon 
the teacher is needed by a girl working at her desk, 
where teacher and pupil discuss the problem. Note 
here that it is all right for teacher and pupil to talk 
during the recitation, because the teacher makes the 
rules: two pupils must not talk; except to help each 
other, as they say. And this they soon do, for the 
bright girl points the way to the dull boy. The first 
boy has done his sum; and, rather than waste time, 
punches the fire, which is already too hot. Another 
bright lad cultivates the fantasy and freehand draw- 
ing; while some laggards toil on, with and without 
help, hopeless, and despairing of victory before time 
is called. The first boy explains to those who have 
done their work, while others toil on. Fill out the 
picture at your leisure. In all it was a splendid dis- 
play of self -activity, free thought and free speech." 

The law of unity in the recitation demands short 
recitation periods. When the minds of the pupils 



238 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

become fatigued to any great extent, it is impossible 
to maintain the unity. Forty minutes is probably 
long enough for any recitation period and in the case 
of young students it should, of course, be much less, 
its length depending upon the ability of the pupils to 
give sustained concentrated attention. 

The Teacher's Preparation for the Recitation. — No 
teacher can do his best work without making daily 
preparation for his recitations. This preparation by 
the teacher is called lesson planning. Thus lesson 
planning means the process, on the part of the 
teacher, of working through each lesson a short time 
before teaching it with the view of teaching it to some 
particular class. In short, it is the teacher's im- 
mediate preparation for teaching each lesson. Daily 
lesson planning is thus an absolute necessity to the 
teacher who will do the best teaching of which he is 
capable. No teacher, then, should ever go before his 
class to teach a lesson without having planned it for 
this particular recitation. 

This may seem too much of a requirement to 
some teachers, since it will of a necessity demand 
many sacrifices of them. To those who object on this 
ground, it may be said that the most successful 
school work demands just this sacrifice and more, and 
that those who are unwilling to give it should relin- 
quish their claims as successful teachers to those 
who are willing. Also, according to the law of the 
survival of the fittest these very teachers in the strug- 



THE RECITATION. 23^ 

gle for excellency will be pushed to the rear that their 
places may be occupied by those more worthy. 

And daily preparation will not be found to de- 
mand so much sacrifice as it at first appears. The 
teacher will grow in skill in lesson planning in a short 
time to such an extent that he will find that he caa 
plan each lesson in a very few minutes. This of 
course presumes that he has a fair degree of scholar- 
ship in the subjects which he teaches. 

No better means exists to arouse interest and 
maintain it in the class than that of planning each 
lesson. It works out as follows: the teacher having 
planned his lesson, as a general plans a battle, comes 
to the recitation full of expectation and interest to see 
if all things will work out as they were thought in the 
planning. The pupils, according to the law of sym- 
pathy, catch the interest and expectation from th& 
teacher, and in turn manifest an intense interest. 
This is but one, however, of the many benefits which 
come to the teacher from lesson planning. 

But the teacher's intentions may be excellent, 
and yet he may not succeed well because he has no 
systematic way of planning lessons. In other words 
the teacher may see the necessity of lesson planning, 
but may not know how to plan a lesson. It wiU be 
remembered that under the head of the ' ' Teacher's: 
ifei/iO(^," it has been shown that in teaching a lesson 
the teacher must think through {l)the subject-matter; 
(2) the purpose; (3) the basis; (4) the steps; and (5) the 



:240 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

devices. Systematic lesson planning consists in 
thinking out as accurately as possible just these five 
things before attempting to teach a lesson. 

Some teachers say one can depend upon the in- 
spiration of the moment in teaching and that lesson 
planning is not necessary. But the worst failures as 
"teachers are those who attempt to depend upon the 
inspiration of the moment and find that the moment 
comes and goes without the inspiration. Inspiration 
is not a thing so easily got as to come along to help 
out the teacher who has not prepared himself for his 
recitation. Inspiration results from properly pre- 
paring one's self for his class work. 

Manner of Conducting the Recitation. — The manner 
of conducting the recitation is a point of sufficient 
importance to repay careful study, for upon it de- 
pends to a considerable degree the success of the 
teacher. The teacher who has a mild, pleasant way 
of leading his students in recitation inspires them 
with confidence, respect and love; while the loud, 
boisterous, explosive teacher fails in securing these 
very necessary attitudes of his pupil's minds. 

Recitations should be both oral and written. The 
oral should doubtless predominate, but they should 
be varied occasionally with written recitations. This 
is because the pupils wiU be called upon in life both 
in and out of school work to communicate their 
thought and feeling in both oral and written dis- 
course. To know is good, but it is not entirely suf- 



THE RECITATION. 241 

ficient. It was said a long time ago that he who does 
not know is an ignoramus, and that he who knows, 
but can not communicate what he knows and feels is 
a dumb statue. 

All of the following ways of manipulating ques- 
tions and answers have been used in conducting the 
recitation, and have been called methods of conducting 
it: 1. The concert method. 2. The consecutive 
method. 8. The promiscuous method. 4. The lec- 
ture method. 5. The Socratic method. 

The various so called methods of conducting the 
recitation have already been studied (See page 218), 
and their merits and demerits pointed out. So while 
they should be rethought, they will not be rediscussed 
here. 

Assignments. — ^The assignment is a proper topic of 
study in connection with the recitation, for it is the 
teacher's most effective means of stimulating the 
students to properly prepare for the recitation. 
There is no other device in the hands of the teacher 
that may be used so effectively as assignments. Clear, 
definite, logical assignments bring clear, definite, 
logical thinking in the recitation. On the other hand 
bad, indefinite assignments bring unsatisfactory 
recitations and lead to bad habits of thinking. As a 
rule a teacher will get just about as good recitations 
as are good his assignments. The teacher by skillful 
assignments can lead his pupils to pursue almost any 
desired line of thinking. 



242 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

Every assignment in any subject should place 
before the class a definite problem for solution, and 
it must be stated in such a way that the learner will 
see what is required of him; and it must suggest the 
general plan to be pursued in solving the problem. 
An assignment might be bad in any of these three 
ways. 

Many of us can remember when the teacher said 
as the assignment, **Take the next lesson." Audit 
is also easily remembered that we frequently did not 
know how to take it, when to take it, nor where to 
take it, and that we were little better off after taking 
than before taking. 

The assignment is a most powerful means in the 
hands of the conscientious teacher for doing his stu- 
dents lasting good. 

Common Errors in Conducting the Recitation. — The 
following are some of the most prevalent errors which 
teachers are prone to fall into and which they should 
studiously avoid; 1. Giving assignments not suf- 
ficiently definite. 2. Permitting students to wander 
from the question. 3. Repeating questions before 
giving students time to answer. 4. Repeating the 
answer. 5. Calling on the student before asking 
the question. 6. Talking too much. 7. Calling too 
much upon the brighter students for recitation. 

Indefinite assignments were studied in the pre- 
ceding topic and nothing further is necessary here 
unless it is to emphasize what was said there. The 



THE RECITATION. 24S 

importance of definite, logical assignments in teach- 
ing, however, can not be well overestimated. 

To have the student answer just the question 
asked and stop then, teaches him to talk to the point 
and stop when he has finished it. But to talk to the 
point and stop when one has reached it is the charac- 
teristic of a well trained mind. Other things equal, 
that teacher who holds the students to just the 
question asked does his students by far the most 
good. And that student who answers just the ques- 
tion asked is as a rule the best thinker. 

The habit of repeating the question before giving 
students time to answer fosters habits of inattention, 
and leads to bad habits of study. The student does 
not feel the necessity of giving concentrated habits of 
attention since he has a right to expect the teacher to 
repeat the question. Also, the tendency on the part 
of the teacher is to make the answer to the question a 
little easier each time he asks it, and this leads to 
poor preparation and bad habits of study. 

There seems to be an almost incontrollable habit 
among teachers to repeat the answer to a question 
immediately when the student has given it. It is in 
itself not only unnecessary, but positively harmful. 
It tends to habits of inattention on the part of the 
students in the class who are not reciting. Why need 
they pay respectful attention to the student who is 
reciting, if the teacher wiU repeat the answer once, 
twice, or often three times? 



244 STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 

By calling on the student before asking the ques- 
tion, opportunity is afforded the other students in the 
class to relax their attention. If the teacher asks the 
question, hesitates momentarily, then calls oa some 
one for the answer, the attention of the whole class 
will be better held; for no one knows but that he will 
be called on to recite. 

Talking too much is perhaps the most general 
of all the common errors in conducting a recitation. 
Many teachers literally talk their students to sleep 
and some almost talk their students to death. Too 
much talking kills interest; violates the students' self- 
activity; fosters bad habits of study; stifles individual 
endeavor, and robs the student of the pleasure of his 
own effort. 

Teachers have to watch themselves to avoid falling 
into the habit of calling too much on the brighter 
students. It is not just to the weaker ones who 
usually need the opportunity of reciting more than 
their more fortunate companions. 



INDEX. 



Activities of the mind, 74. 
Aim in life, 31. 

Relation of these aims, 32. 
All knowing indirect, 76. 
Apperception, 69. 
Aptitude, Natural, 173. 
Approving, 235. 
Assignments, 241. 
Association, 97. 

Laws of, 98. 
Attention, 67. 

Classes of, 68. 
Attribute, 63. 

Classes of, 63. 

of mind, 63. 
Basis, 215. 
Beginning point, 13. 
Behavior, 185. 

Child Study and curriculum, 
145. 
Cleanliness, 56. 
Clothing, 43. 
Concept, 105. 

Method of forming, 105. 

Aspects of, 107. 
Conception, 104. 

Logical steps in, 106. 
Conduct, 185. 
Consecutive method, 219. 
Consciousness, 65. 

Function of, 66. 



Comparison of teacher's and 
pupil's method, 223. 
Complete living, 25. 
Curriculum, 122. 
Meaning of, 122. 
Origin of, 123. 
Growth of, 125. 
Enriching the, 127. 
A rational, 129. 
Test of, 129. 
First step in applying, 129. 
Order of importance of 

these lines, 130. 
Second step in applying, 
132. 
Changes in suggested by 

child study, 146. 
Daily preparation, 169, 238. 
Definition, 108. 
Laws of, 110. 
Devices, 217. [tions, 17. 

Differentiation of institu- 
in the school, 19. [ing, 134. 
Disciplinary value of learn- 
Discriminating and unifying, 
75. 
Diverting influences, 194. 
Duties as a citizen, 141. 

as a teacher, 149. 
Education 
What main aim is not, 33. 



246 



STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 



Primary aim of, 33. 

Purpose of, 25-37, 128. 
Knowledge of, 166. 

Relational order of, 131. 
Elements of the school, 21. 
Encouraging, 235. 
Errors in conducting reci- 
tation, 242. 
Feeling, function of, 76. 
Greek and Latin, 144. 
Governing, 149. 
Government, 176. 

Kinds of school, 176. 

Main line of school, 184. 
Hate, 79. [30. 

Harmony of the four views. 
Habits of activity, 157. 
Health 

Misfortune of bad, 38. 

Good, 173. 
Hearing, 59. 
Hints from nature, 35. 
Honesty, 155. 
Imagination, 101. 

Advance over memory, 102. 

Classes of, 103. [30. 

Importance of the right view, 
Incentives, 198. 

Natural, 199. 

Artificial, 199. 
Indifference, 79. 
Inspiring, 235. 
Interest, 68. 
Intuition, 117. 
Iterativeness, 73. 
Judgment, 110. 

Aspects of, 112. 



Justness, 156. 
Knowing, 74. 

Development of, 84. 
Stages in, 85. 
Basis of, 85. 
Stages of 
Distinguishing element in 
the, 117. 
Advance in the, 118. 
Knowledge giving value of 
learning, 134 
Knowledge 
Most valuable, 145. 
of laws of life, 161. 
of methods, 167. 
of purpose of education, 
166. 
Law, 23. 

Law, Fundamental, 178. 
Source of the, 179 
Aspects of, 180. 
Law of the recitation, 236. 
Law in the mind, 228. 
Laboratory method, 222. 
Learner's method, 209, 210. 
Learning 
Value of, 133. 

Disciplinary and knowledge 
giving value, 134. 
Lecture method, 220. 
Lighting, 51. 
Love, 79. 

of occupation, 171. 
Magnetism, Personal, 174. 
Management of school, 176. 
Importance of, 176. 
Kinds of, 176. 



INDEX . 



247 



Mastery of circumstances, 174. 
Memory, 92. 

Classes of, 94. 

Law of, 97. 
Method, 207. 

Nature of, 208. 

Subject-matter of, 208. 

Definition of, 209. 

Classes of, 209. 

Learner's, 209, 210. 

Teacher's, 211. 

As a physical process, 218 

Comparison of teacher's 

and pupil's, 223- 

Two views of, 223. 

Factors determining, 227. 
Methods of study, giving in- 
sight into, 234. 
Moral character, 28, 153. 
Motives, Pure, 197. 
Myopia 

Causes of, 52. 

Undesirability of, 53. 

Rules for prevention of, 53. 
Object method, 218. 
Order of importance of these 
lines, 130. 
Percept, 92. 

Physical nature of the child, 

38. 
Power of sentiment, 183. 
Practice in the art of teach- 
ing, 168. 
Preparation 

Professional, 160. 
Daily, 169, 238. 
Testing on, 232. 



Problem, The, 25. 
Processes in teaching act, 207. 
Promiscuous method, 220. 
Punishments, School, 203. 

Corporal, 255. 
Purpose, 214. 

of education, 33, 25, 128. 

of the recitation, 231. 

of the school, 25. 
Rational freedom, 27. 
Rearing of a family, 139. 
Reasoning, 113. 

Classes of, 113. 

Implicit and explicit, 114. 

Inductive and deductive, 

114. 
Recitation 

Nature of, 230. 

Purpose of, 231. 

Manner of conducting, 240. 

Common errors in conduct- 
ing, 242. 
Rhythm, 73. 

Right and wrong, knowledge 
of, 154. 
Right ideas of life, 198. 
Rules, 179. 
School 

Nature of, 13. 

Origin of, 16. 

Differentiation in, 19. 

Elements of, 21. 

Purpose of, 25. 
School an organization, 177. 
School government, 176. 
Schoolroom, Purpose of, 190. 

Presence of learner, 190. 



248 



STUDIES IN PEDAGOGY. 



Comfort of teacher and pu- 
pils, 191. 

Conditions, 46. 
Scholarship, 159. 
Seating, 55. 
Seeing, 60. 
Self-control, 158. 
Self-activity, 71. 
Self-preservation 

Direct, 135. 

Indirect, 137. 
Senses and sense organs, 57. 
Sensation 

Characteristics of, 87. 

Classes of, 87. 

Aspects of, 57. 

Comparison of general and 
special, 89. 
Sense-perception, 90. 

Classes of, 91. 

Object of, 91. 
Sentiment, Power of, 183. 
Sight, 195. 

Social influences, 201. 
Socratic method, 221. 
Source of the law, 179. 
Spending leisure time, 143. 
Steps, 216. 

in applying test, 129, 132. 
Stimulating, 235. 
Study, No danger of too 

much, 226. 
Student habits. Energetic, 169. 
Subject-matter, 212. 

of method, 208. 

General statement of, 213. 
Supplementing a knowledge 



of lesson, 233. 
Syllogism, 115. 
Sympathy with children, 171. 
Systematization, 116. 
Teacher 
Importance of, 149. 
Duties of, 149. 
Positive, 150. 
Negative, 151. 
Characteristics of, 152. 
Necessary, 152. 
Desirable, 172. 
Teacher's method, 211. 
Teaching, 150. 
Teaching act, 207. 

Processes in, 207. 
Temperature, 49. 
Test of curriculum, 129. 
Testing on preparation of 

lesson, 232. 
Things men are employed in, 
138. 
Thought in the thing, 228. 
Thoughts of teachers, 163. 
Thoughts of thinkers, 164. 
Touch, 194. 
of teacher's and learner's 
mind, 231. 
Truthfulness, 154. 
Unity, 23, 178. 
between teacher and learner, 
185, 189. 
between learner's ideal and 
real self, 186, 197. 
in the organization as a 

whole, 181. 
Broken, 202. 



INDEX 



249 



Restoration of, 203. 

Fundamental law, 178. 
Source of, 179. 
Aspects of, 180. 
Unifying and discriminating, 
75. 
Vital touch of learner's and 



teacher's mind, 231. 
Will 
Functions of, 83. 
Study of, 83. 
Willing, 80. 

Wise and virtuous men and 
women, 29. 



SEP SI 1908 



SEP 81 1903 



